&'S73. 



LIBRARY OP CONGRESS.? 

# " f 

* UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. | 



THE 



BOOK OF REVELATION 



EXPLAINED BY HISTOKY. 



A COMMENTARY, 



BY 



REV. J. B. L'HOTE, 

FORMERLY PRIEST OF VILLEFAVARD, FRANCE, NOW A MISSIONARY OF THE 

GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND PROFESSOR OF 

LANGUAGES, IN LAWRENCEVILLE, N. J. 



v/H 




PHILADELPHIA: 

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. 
18 54. 

No, 2.1 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, 

BY LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



PREFACE, 



Reader : — I have studied, many years, this prophecy of the 
beloved disciple of Jesus, not to comment upon it, or to write a 
book, but for my own enjoyment and delight. And now, I 
publish this book, because God has enabled me to understand this 
wonderful Revelation, and because I desire to impart to others the 
fruits of my labors. 

I am well aware of the imperfections of this book, which 
originate from my limited knowledge of the English language. 
I know the evils which have been brought upon some of our 
fellow-men by false interpretations of the sacred emblems of this 
prophecy, and I am not ignorant of the prejudices, which both 
Christians and infidels entertain against any interpretation of this 
wonderful book of God. But, on the other hand, I have long felt 
that it is a shame for a minister of the gospel, or for any professor 
of Christianity, to acknowledge that it is an inspired book, — a part 
of the sacred volume, which they hold to be the foundation of the 
religion, which they teach or profess, — and, at the same time, to 
acknowledge, that they do not understand its mysterious language, 
and to entertain against it such prejudices as do infidels them- 
selves. Therefore, I publish this exposition ; and do not hesitate 
to say, that it is logically and historically demonstrated to be true ; 
consequently, that it will prevent any further abuse of its emble- 
matic language, and will prove to be a powerful instrumentality to 
silence infidelity, to put down popish arrogance and delusion, and 
to advance the kingdom of our Lord. 

Voltaire says of Newton : " The greatest geniuses may have an 



Vlll PREFACE. 

erroneous judgment about a principle, which they have received 
without examination : Newton had it, when he commented upon 
the Apocalypse." Reader, carefully peruse this book, which I offer 
you ; and then, you will decide whether Newton, or Voltaire, had 
an erroneous judgment of "a principle, received without examina- 
tion." This prophecy will no longer be to you an obscure and 
unintelligible book; and you will confess that it is the most 
wonderful of all miracles. 

The explanation, which I give of this book, is not an arbitrary 
one. It is founded upon the nature, use, and functions of its 
emblems, and upon the illustrations, given by the prophet himself. 
Thus explained, these emblems represent to us the true condition 
of the Church, during eighteen centuries, and all the important 
events of history, in such a manner, that, with the monuments of 
history which we now possess, it would be impossible for us to 
represent the same events, in figurative language, clearer and 
better, than that of the prophecy itself. There is, then, no other 
explanation to be given of this prophecy, — and if, against my 
belief, there is another, let those upon whom weigh the curses of 
this book, hasten to give it. 

Many passages and emblems had been understood by those who 
have, in all ages, commented upon this book ; but only as many as 
were necessary, under the providence of God, to prevail with 
Christians to preserve this sacred book in the Church, with a holy 
reverence, notwithstanding the dark cloud which surrounded the 
other parts. But these difficulties, which they were obliged to 
pass over in every chapter (mistaking even the whole of the 
seventh, eleventh, twelfth, and twenty-first chapters, which have 
never been understood according to their true meaning), were as 
many chasms, which they could not fill up, and which rendered 
their commentaries a chaos of opinions, of systems, and of insigni- 
ficant quotations; so that the prophecy itself, becoming more 
obscure by these systems and opinions, provoked the derision of 
infidels, and the indifference and disgust of Christians.* 

* As the writer has no book, when writing this exposition, he cites 



PREFACE. IX 

My purpose, in writing this book, is not to expatiate on the 
common words, which present no difficulty, because the reader can 
comment himself upon them, and be benefited thereby : I will 
only explain the meaning of the emblematic language of the pro- 
phecy, and show the connection between every part of it, and its 
fulfilment as it is recorded in history. As I have been greatly 
blessed by the reading of this book of Revelation, I am confident 
that the serious perusal of this exposition will impart to the reader 
the same blessings. The author of the prophecy declares himself, 
that " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of 
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein/' 
Notwithstanding the imperfections of this commentary, every 
Christian will be strengthened in his holy faith, by the reading of 
it; every infidel will learn how great our God is; and every 
Catholic and every priest will be taught, that Roman Catholicism 
has been long ago spewed out of the mouth of the God of Chris- 
tians. All will learn that the Reformation, which has so long been 
called " a heresy," was the work of the Lord ; that on the 25th of 
April, 1529, when the rulers of this world met together at Spires, 
to give the Reformation the name of " Protestantism," it was the 
Lord who overruled their counsel, and prevailed upon them to 
give his faithful Church this new name, which he had adopted, in 
order that there should be a distinction between his true Church 
and the spurious one, which had defiled the Christian and Catholic 
name. Therefore, he wrote upon the Reformation " the name of 
God," by whom it was adopted as his own work, and "the name 
of New Jerusalem," showing, in this manner, that the Reformation 
shall be henceforth "the city of his God, which cometh down from 
heaven," and in writing "upon him that overcometh" popery "the 
name of God and the name of the city of God," and making him 
" a pillar in the temple of God," he acknowledges the Reformers 
to be, like the apostles, "pillars" in this new temple of God; and 

Henry's and Scott's expositions from memory; and he regrets that he is thus 
unable to refer to the parts by which he has been benefited, when he 
consulted them to understand this prophecy for his own delight and grati- 
fication. 



X PREFACE. 

the Reformed Churches, to be " the holy church," which he had 
built up in Jerusalem (see 3 : 12). And so, Protestantism is 
vindicated by the Lord himself from the reproach of heresy : Pro- 
testantism is the new name of the Church of the Lord 5 and the 
Reformers were the new pillars of this New Jerusalem, as it came 
down, at first, from heaven. 

Would to God that the priests, and the bishops, and all those 
who are born Catholic, might read this short exposition of this 
wonderful prophecy, with the desire to be taught by the Holy 
Ghost in the way that they shall choose ! May they abandon the 
papal church, from which they can receive no benefit, except 
childish honors and worldly distinctions ! May they proclaim the 
word of God as the only true standard of faith, and Jesus, as the 
only bishop of souls and the only head of his Church ! The writer 
lived once, like them, in the darkness of popery. He was first 
awakened from his popish slumber, when reading in the ecclesias- 
tical history, that a Franciscan friar, incensed that the pope had 
decided in favor of the Dominicans a controversy debated between 
them and his order, wrote a pamphlet, in which he asserted, that 
the Pope was the Antichrist, the beast of the Apocalypse. From 
that time, he began to examine the doctrines of the mother church; 
he took notice of the innovations introduced every year into 
the church ; he ceased, henceforth, to sanctify the crimes of 
the Popes, and he denied their assumed power and the claims 
of their priesthood. But, being deprived of th^ word of God, 
and having no Christian friend to lead him to Christ and his word, 
he wandered alone until the great Shepherd, the bishop of our 
souls, came to rescue him from his wanderings, to show him the 
beauty of holiness, and to introduce him, through the gates, into 
his holy city. "How unsearchable are his judgments, and his 
ways past finding out ! Blessed are all they that put their trust 
in him !" 

The book of Revelation was judged, in a council held about A. D. 
360, in Laodicea, on account of its obscure symbols, unworthy of a 
place in the canon of the sacred books. Nevertheless it was not held 
in less reverence by the Church, and its authenticity has been in- 



PREFACE. XI 

vincibly vindicated by all the authors who have commented upon 
it. But the best and the only proof needed to establish its au- 
thenticity, is to explain its emblematic language according to its 
nature and its meaning in the word of God, and to show that it 
gives us a true and faithful picture of the principal events of 
history, and of the state of the Church from the time of the prophet 
to our days. 

It follows from the teachings of this Revelation that all events 
have been foreordained, and that the names of the elect have been 
written in the book of the Lamb before the foundation of the world. 
The same word of God teaches the foreknowledge of God and the 
election of his people. But to this, it is objected that, if such be 
the case, there is, then, no liberty to act otherwise, and conse- 
quently that the preaching of the gospel to perishing sinners would 
be a mockery, because they cannot resist the decrees of God. It 
will not be amiss, therefore, to answer briefly this objection, which 
originates from a wrong knowledge of the nature of the eternity of 
God. Let the line a — h represent the eternal existence of God. 
Every event, the lives of men, the existence of empires, may be 
represented by m, and their duration by the line m — n, taken at 
any point of the line representing the eternity of God. Now, the 
existence of God does not consist of days, hours, and years. There 
is no time, no past, no future, for God : all things are actually 
present before the eternal eye of the Almighty. Therefore, though, 
at the point a of the line representing his eternity, he saw and 
knew, as if they were presently accomplished, ail events, the lives 
of men, and the existence of empires, his seeing beforehand these 
events does not prevent our liberty any more than our seeing afar 
off a drunkard rushing to his ruin, or an imprudent man exposing 
himself rashly to a precipice, has any influence upon their conduct 
and destruction. In this manner, the lives of Jacob and Esau, re- 
presented by the line m—n, were known of God, at the time of their 
birth, represented by m ; and the foul act of Esau selling freely 
his birthright was known and present, under the eye of the eternal 
God, at the time of his birth. Therefore, before they were born 
and had done any good or evil, God could say without impairing 



Xll PREFACE. 

their liberty, " The elder shall serve the younger .... Jacob have 
I loved, but Esau have I hated. " 

There is, in God, a foreknowledge of the character of the elect; 
for, in the golden chain of salvation, " the knowledge of God" is 
the first link of the chain, according to St. Paul, saying, " For 
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed 
to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among 
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also 
called : and whom he called, them he also justified : and whom he 
justified, them he also glorified." Jesus Christ died for all, and 
the means of grace have been provided for all ; but as God fore- 
knew that the wicked would not choose the fear of the Lord, 
because " their soul delighteth in their abominations," and because 
they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, 
their names are not written in the book of the Lamb. But that 
does not impair their liberty any more than if the eternal God were 
taking presently notice of their wicked ways (Prov. 1 : 24-38). 



COMMENTARY. 



CHAPTEE I. 

TITLES OF THE PROPHET POWER AND MAJESTY OF JESUS 

CHRIST — THE MYSTERY OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 



" Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep 
those things which are written therein : for the time is at hand." — Rev. 1 : 3. 

The first chapter of the Book of Revelation, which is like an 
exordium of all the prophecy, declares that this Revelation pro- 
ceeds from Grod, and that, " Blessed is he that readeth, and they 
that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which 
are written therein f therefore it is important to read it, and 
meditate upon it. It is all grand and majestic; it is all worthy of 
the great revelations which are to be laid down and explained 
before us. Jesus Christ, the source of grace and peace, and the 
author of our salvation, appears there with his different titles ; and 
in a sublime apparition, he is clothed with the emblems of the 
power that he will exert in the seven different ages of the universal 
Church, represented by the seven spirits, which are the same spirit 
operating variously in these seven ages, and by the seven churches 
of Asia Minor, to which this prophecy is addressed. 

V. 1-3. " The Revelation of Jesns Christ, which God gave unto him, to 
show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass ; and he sent 
and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the 
word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he 
saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this 
prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is 
at hand.'' 

The knowledge of future events belongs to God alone. All ages 
are before him, and all the events which come to pass, being set in 
order before him from eternity, unite to accomplish his glorious 

2 



14 COMMENTARY, 

purpose and eternal decrees. He can raise up, as he pleases, either 
a hardened Pharaoh, to show his power, or a Nebuchadnezzar, to 
punish the sins of his people, or a Luther and a Calvin, to remove 
the darkness of this world, to purify his Church, and revive his 
people, in giving honor and glory to the word of his grace and 
power. 

The future is surrounded with an impenetrable veil for mortal 
eyes, and it is impossible for us to see through this dark veil, or to 
reach beyond the compass of the present, unless it pleases God to 
unveil it before our eyes. Blessed be our God ! the veil has been 
removed, and the things which belong to our peace and eternal 
hopes, have been revealed to his servant John, who has fulfilled, in 
the Church of God, the three principal offices of an apostle, of 
evangelist, and prophet. There are blessings promised to those 
who read this book; let no one, then, neglect the reading of this 
Revelation, under the pretence that it is obscure, or that many have 
abused its mysterious emblems : men abuse everything. The reason 
for which it is of the greatest consequence for us to read this book, 
and keep the things which are revealed to us in this prophecy, is 
that, " the time is at hand," not of the second coming of our Lord, 
but of the scourges by which God will visit his enemies, in all 
ages, to the event called "the great day of the Lord." Therefore, 
our interest is to stay far from his enemies, whatever may be their 
rank and power in this world; and it is by the reading of this book 
that we shall know them, and shall escape from their ruin. 

V. 4-G. "John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto 
you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; 
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne ; and from Jesus 
Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the 
prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us 
from our sins in his blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and 
his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." 

Though the prophet be the beloved disciple of the Lord, having 
reclined in his bosom, and followed him to the foot of the cross, 
where he received his last words, and was intrusted with the care 
of his mother — though an apostle, evangelist, and prophet, he does 
not assume the title of a prince of the Church — he calls himself 
simply " John." All that he says of himself (v. 2, 9), is that he is 
a servant of Jesus, a witness of the truth of his word, a brother 
and a companion of all Christians in tribulation, in the kingdom 
and patience of Jesus Christ. Peter himself, who has been made 
"a prince of the apostles," after the famous text, "Thou art Peter" 
(Matt. 16 : 18), which ambition forbids to understand according to 
its true signification, takes only the title of " Peter, an apostle," 



COMMENTARY. 15 

and an "elder/' as the others, and "a witness of the sufferings of 
Christ/' All the pompous titles of "Pontiff, Prince, Cardinal, 
Pope/' were only assumed in the Church, when she had been in- 
vaded by corruption; and the title of "Lord" (Monseigneur), was 
even unknown in the Church before Louis XIV., when the French 
bishops, at the imitation of this king, who gave this title to his son, 
called one another "Monseigneur/' that is, My lord. It was in 
vain that people laughed at their vanity; they knew that this title 
would be consecrated and revered with time, like the other assump- 
tions of their Church. 

All our blessings come from God, the Father, from our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and from the Holy Ghost. The word "grace" means 
forgiveness, favor. The malefactor, condemned by the law, receives 
a grace when he is forgiven by the chief of the state. He who can 
do nothing of himself, and receives from the fulness of Him who is 
almighty, the means and power to accomplish everything, receives 
also a grace, a favor. Such is the meaning of this word. As 
sinners, under the curse of God, we want this grace to obtain mercy, 
to be holy, and to become partakers of the heavenly kingdom, not 
by our deeds, but by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Kom. 
5 : 12-21.) 

The fruit of this grace is "peace." As soon as our hearts have 
been filled with faith, as with a precious perfume, the tears of re- 
pentance begin to flow. We love God, his word, his people, his 
Church and holy Sabbaths. Our revolt against God and his com- 
mands ceases, and peace reigns within us, in our families and with 
our fellow-mortals: we enjoy peace even when we encounter death, 
the king of terrors. From that peace springs the calm of the soul, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

These blessings, granted to us in consequence of the plan of 
salvation, decreed by the blessed Trinity before the foundation of 
this world, are obtained from God the Father, as the fountain and 
author of every blessing; from the Son, who, after having fulfilled 
and magnified the law, suffered death and hell in our stead on the 
cross; from the Holy Ghost, who continues the work of our 
Redeemer, through his divine agency, disposing our hearts and 
minds to accept with joy this plan of salvation, and to be faithful 
unto death. The Father is represented as the eternal Jehovah, 
one with the Son, "which is, and which was, and which is to 
come," being eternally the same gracious and merciful God. The 
Holy Ghost is called here "the seven spirits/' for the diversity of 
his gifts, and for the seven churches of Asia, which he will guide, 
in a different manner, according to the different condition of the 
Church, in the seven ages of which they are the types. The Son 



16 COMMENTARY. 

is called "the faithful witness, and first begotten of the dead, and 
the prince of the kings of the earth. " 

1. He is "the faithful witness," because the Son, which is in the 
bosom of the Father, and who was the bright image of God, has 
faithfully revealed unto us his will and eternal purpose. 2. "The 
first begotten of the dead," because he triumphed over death by 
his resurrection from the dead, having bruised the head of the ser- 
pent in his own dominion ; and, as he arose from the dead, so 
his redeemed people shall rise up in the same manner, having the 
promise of eternal life. He is called also "the first-born," to indi- 
cate that to him belong all the blessings which, according to the 
ancient usages of people, appertained by birthright to the first-born. 
3. "The prince of the kings of the earth," because he overrules all 
the kingdoms of this world by his providence, until they shall be 
broken in pieces and consumed, that his kingdom should be set 
up on their ruins. He was arrayed as a mock-king, having a 
purple robe on him, and a crown of thorns on his head, when 
Pilate brought him forth unto the Jews ; but in the great day of 
the Lord, when the kingdoms, represented by the toes of the feet 
of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar, which were composed of 
iron mixed with miry clay (the civil power mixed with an earthly re- 
ligion, Dan. 2 : 27-45), shall be broken, at the battle of Armaged- 
don, he shall have on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, 
"King of kings, and Lord of lords." (Eev. 16 :"l6; 19 : 11-21.) 

"Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his 
blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his 
Father, be glory and dominion for ever and ever." 1. He loved 
us. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, 
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The same 
exclaims with astonishment, "Behold, what manner of love the 
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of 
God." God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. "He washed us from our sins 
in his blood." The blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin ; and 
all the saints who surround the throne of God have washed their 
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is this 
good news which the Apostles were commissioned to preach through- 
out the world. " To him," says Peter, " give all the prophets wit- 
ness, that through his name w r hosoever believeth in him shall receive 
remission of sins." "And by him," says Paul, "all that believe 
are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified 
by the law of Moses." (Acts 10 : 43 j 13 : 38 j 26 : 18 ; Luke 24 : 47.) 
The Apostles were sent to the Gentiles, not to give them the abso- 
lution of their sins in a tribunal of confession, but to preach them, 



COMMENTARY. 17 

in the name of Jesus, repentance and remission of sins ; to open 
their eyes; to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power 
of Satan to God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and 
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith. When it is 
said (Matt. 18 : 18), " Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be 
bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be 
loosed in heaven/' these words are addressed, not to a priest, but to 
all the members of a particular church, who receive or reject a pro- 
fessed Christian, reproved for his sins, according to his submission 
or resistance to the judgment of this Christian assembly, whose 
judgment shall be sanctioned in heaven. The Roman Church has 
corrupted the foundation of Christianity, by substituting for this 
grace, which God grants to repentant sinners, a confession made to 
a man, from whom they are to receive an absolution. Confession, 
invented in 627, in a synod composed of fifty-two bishops, at 
Chalons-on-the-Marne (France), was then imposed only upon the 
monks, and upon the priests in the eighth century, and finally on 
the laymen in 1215. It is one of these burdens of slavery, of 
which Paul (Col. 2 : 16-23) admonishes Christians to beware, — 
which, under the appearance of good, have taught impurity to youth, 
inspired contempt for the religion of Jesus, and propagated infidelity 
in all ranks of society. 

3. " He has made us kings and priests." God says of the Jews, 
u Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation ;" 
and of Christians it is said, "Ye, as lively stones, are built up a 
spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, 
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2 : 5-9.) He has 
made us kings in receiving us by adoption, instead of sons and 
daughters and joint-heirs with Christ of the kingdom of heaven. 
As soldiers of Jesus Christ, we must fight the good fight of faith, 
to overcome sin, Satan, and the world ; for it would be unbecoming 
for kings and sons of kings to lead a sinful life, and to be the vile 
slaves of Satan. Christians' lives must be pure, noble, and holy. 
He made us priests, not to offer sacrifices, as the Jewish priests, for 
they ceased at his coming (Dan. 9 : 27) : and we have but a holy 
high priest, Jesus, who was once offered to hear the sins of many; 
and we are sanctified through the offering of his body, once for all 
(Heb. 10 : 10); but to offer to God spiritual sacrifices, the incense 
of our prayers and supplications, and to show forth the praises of 
him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. 
Jesus Christ established in his church apostles, prophets, evan- 
gelists, pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for 
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ 
(Eph. 4 : 11 ; 12); but there is no other priest, no sacrificator, than 

2* 



18 COMMENTARY. 

himself, and no other sacrifice than the sacrifice of himself on the 
cross, once for all (Heb. 7 : 23-29). The Greek word "ieros," 
which means a priest, is only employed three or four times in the 
New Testament ) and it is applied, not to a privileged class of men 
among their brethren, as were the Levites among the Jews, but to 
all Christians in general. Consequently, the popish priesthood is 
a daring usurpation of the priesthood of Jesus Christ ; and the un- 
bloody sacrifice, which its priests offer daily for money, for the quick 
and dead, is but a criminal parody of the sacrifice of our Lord; and 
whoever attends such a sacrilegious sacrifice is partaker of the sins 
of these new Korahs, Dathans, and Abirams. As we are indebted 
to our Lord for our redemption and privileges, let us ascribe to him 
glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 

V. 7, 8. "Behold, he eometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, 
and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail 
because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to 
come, the Almighty." 

The prophet, with his prophetic eye, sees already the coming of 
our Lord with the clouds (political storm), in that day called " The 
great day of the Lord," when he shall strike through kings in the 
day of his wrath, and shall wound the head (popery) over many 
countries (19 : 11-21). Every eye shall see him in his glory and 
power ) and they also which pierced him : the Jews who put him 
to death — the infidels and scornful, who boasted to be freethinkers 
— the hypocrites and traitors, who have dishonored the Christian 
name, shall see him; and, in their confusion and distress, shall 
wail because of him. Even so, Amen : It is the expectation of all 
his people. Who could prevent his triumph over his enemies ? 
He is the Alpha and Omega — a metaphor taken from the first and 
the last letter of the Greek alphabet, to signify that he is the 
beginning and the ending — the eternal God, which is, and which 
was, and which is to come, the Almighty. 

These last words are pronounced by Jesus Christ himself, as to 
ratify the words spoken by the prophet. This revelation is like a 
notarial deed. In the beginning, the prophet explains what are 
his titles and his commission, as would do a notary. In the last 
chapter, from the fifth to the last verse, Jesus, as the angel of the 
covenant giving mission to his prophet, and the bride and the 
spirit, as witnesses, are speaking by turns, as to sign, approve, and 
ratify, as it were, all the words, written by the prophet in this pro- 
phetic deed, signifying, by that, that all the things spoken of in 
this revelation, are decreed by the Almighty, and that they shall 



COMMENTARY. 19 

certainly coine to pass as they are foretold by the prophet, who has 
received his mission from God himself. 

V. 9-11. " I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribula- 
tion, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is 
called Patrnos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I 
was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as 
of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and, what 
thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven churches, which are 
in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto 
Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." 

The most favored Christian is but the first among his brethren, 
and the servant of all. If the prophet boast of anything, it is that 
he is the brother of all Christians, their companion in tribulation, 
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. 1. The kingdom of 
Jesus Christ is that glorious kingdom of grace, and peace, and joy, 
which the God of heaven shall set up, and which shall consume 
and break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth — and this king- 
dom, in which there shall be any more, neither death, neither 
sorrow, nor crying; neither pain, nor tears, shall stand forever. 
(Dan. 2 : 44.) The gospel is the law of this kingdom, Jesus is 
the King, and his redeemed are the subjects of this everlasting 
kingdom. 2. Companion in tribulation. Christians must go 
through trials, afflictions, and persecutions, from this world into the 
heavenly kingdom. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, 
and scourge th every son whom he receiveth (Heb. 12 : 6-11 ; Am. 
4 : 6-13); afflictions are like the troubled waters of the pool of 
Bethesda ; they cure those who are thrown into them ; but then, 
Jesus is like the wood by which the bitter waters became sweet. 
3. The patience of Jesus Christ. Patience is the art of suffering, 
and waiting with an undaunted courage for the accomplishment of 
the promises. The seed, cast in the ground by the husbandman, 
springs up and blossoms before yielding any fruit; the husbandman 
waits patiently for the fruit of his labors. He does not cut a tree, 
because it is first covered with leaves and flowers, before giving 
him ripe fruit. But the impatient man is unable to wait, and to 
overcome the obstacles which he encounters on his way. Christians 
must wait with patience for the precious fruit of the promises, 
which become more and more sure, in proportion as they advance 
to the end of their course. If they find thorns and rocks in their 
way, they must look unto their Master, who is crowned with thorns, 
and oppressed under the heavy burden of his cross. They must 
expect to take it and bear it, in their turn, if such is the will of the 
Master; and whatever may be their trial, either in their family, or 
in persecutions, in dungeons and at the stake, they must be faithful 



20 COMMENTARY. 

unto death. John, the prophet and beloved of the Lord, waits with 
patience for deliverance from his sufferings, in the Isle of Patmos, 
one of the Cyclades, in the iEgean Sea, where he had been banished, 
in 94, by the Emperor Domitian. 

" I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." John Jacques, an 
infidel of the last century, did not deny the existence of prophecies. 
He supposed that some persons, having their imagination excited 
by fastings and watchings, could be exalted to such a degree as to 
discover the future. On that account, he assimilated prophecy to 
the illumination of a fanatic person, and to the extravagance or 
frenzy of a heated imagination. If such is the true origin of 
prophecy, infidels must be satisfied that none of them has ever been 
a prophet, to foretell the vain attempt of their systems, either to 
explain the mysteries of this world or to destroy Christianity. 
John was in the Spirit, that is, his spirit was, as it were, free from 
the body through the powerful agency of the Holy Ghost, who 
established a close relation between him and God; and this favor 
was granted to him, not because his imagination had been heated 
by fastings and watchings, but because he was a faithful servant of 
the Lord, bearing his cross with love and patience, as all the 
prophets of old. "It was on the Lord's day," or the great day 
appointed to celebrate the triumph of the Lord over death, and his 
rest, after having accomplished the great work of our redemption. 
This day was substituted for the Jewish sabbath, by the Master of 
the Sabbath himself. He raised up from the dead, the same day 
— he appeared to his disciples — he sent them the Holy Ghost — and 
the gates of the kingdom of heaven were opened the same day, by 
the preaching of the gospel. We find it celebrated, instead of the 
Sabbath, by the apostles (Acts 20 : 6-7; Col. 2 : 16-17), and Paul 
says: "Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect 
of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which 
are a shadow of things to come." This day, instituted by the in- 
stitutors of Christianity, is the true antitype of the trumpet of the 
ancient jubilee, proclaiming salvation and liberty. It is not of the 
consecration of the first instead of the seventh day of the week, as 
of the errors of the Roman Church. Though we have no positive 
order for this substitution, we find its institution in the Bible, whilst 
the traditions of the Roman Church are condemned there, and the 
records of their inventions are written in the annals of history. 

The prophet heard a great voice " as of a trumpet, saying, I am 
Alpha and Omega." 'This voice is that of Jesus himself, taking, 
as previously, the titles of Alpha and Omega, meaning the first and 
the last, the Eternal Jehovah. His voice is piercing as the sound 
of a trumpet, because, at the sounding of. the seventh trumpet, 



COMMENTARY. 21 

when the seventh vial of the wrath of God, which is contained in 
that trumpet, shall be poured out with its dregs upon his enemies, 
his glorious name and power shall be proclaimed with magnificence, 
and his kingdom established forever. He orders the Prophet to 
write in a book the things which he will show him, and to send it 
unto the seven churches of Asia Minor, whose names are the types 
of seven different states or ages of the Church. 

V. 12-16. "And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And 
being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven 
candlesticks, one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment down to 
the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his 
hairs ivere white like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes were as a flame 
of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and 
his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven 
stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his counte- 
nance ivas as the sun shineth in his strength." 

The sublimity of this glorious apparition of our Lord cannot be 
equalled by any invention of men. Had not Jesus been before the 
eyes of the Prophet, no human imagination could have invented 
such details, and described them with so much accuracy, simplicity, 
and sublimity. He saw seven golden candlesticks, which are the 
seven churches, and which represent the spiritual light, which they 
shall shed in the seven ages, of which the seven churches are the 
types. In the midst of the seven candlesticks, he saw " one like 
unto the son of man ;" but what a difference he observes in his 
magnificence, and in the emblems of his strength and power ! He 
was "clothed with a garment down to the foot/' as King and Lord 
of lords (Is. 6 : 1-7). He was "girt about the paps with a golden 
girdle/' indicating the truth of the prophecy which he is about to 
reveal, and the righteousness and faithfulness, with which he main- 
tains the cause of his people (Eph. 6 : 14; Is. 11 : 5). "His 
head and hairs were white as snow," not as signs of old age, but 
to show that he is the Ancient of days (Dan. 7 : 9-14 ; 10 ; 5-12). 
" His eyes were as a flame of fire," indicating his wrath against 
the enemies of his church, and his knowledge of the hearts and 
thoughts of men. " His feet like unto fine brass, as if they 
burned in a furnace," represent his strong and irresistible power, 
to destroy his enemies and sustain the interests of his people. 
" His voice as the sound of many waters," shows the energy of his 
word to save or destroy. The voice of his words, says Daniel 
(10: 6), is like the voice of a multitude; for he speaks, and the 
nations, figured by the waters (17 : 15), unite together to destroy 
his enemies, and in their wrath their voices are like the roaring of 
the sea. "He had in his right hand, seven stars," which repre- 



22 COMMENTARY. 

sent the seven angels or pastors, of the churches of the different 
ages of his church. " And out of his mouth went a sharp two- 
edged sword," which is the emblem of his word (Heb. 4 : 12-13), 
like a sharp sword, with which he shall slay the nations in the 
great day of God Almighty. "His countenance was, as when the 
sun shineth in his strength," indicating that, after having broken 
his enemies in pieces, he shall shine, at the sight of all the earth, 
with all his glory and majesty, as the sun of righteousness, en- 
lightening and vivifying all the nations of the earth. Mark that 
each of these characters, with which he is clothed in this sublime 
apparition, shall be manifested in each of the ages of the Church, 
figured by the seven churches of Asia Minor. 

V. 17-19. " And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid 
his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not: I am the first and the 
last: I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and, behold, I am alive for ever- 
more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things 
which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall 
be hereafter."' 

Whatever may be the power and glory of Jesus, the disciples 
of Jesus have nothing to fear. Fear not, I am the first and the 
last, the Eternal God. "Write the things which thou hast seen, 
and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter." 
1. The things, which he hath seen, are the sublime apparition of 
Jesus clothed with power and glory and majesty, giving him the 
commission to write this prophecy. 2. " The things which are," 
are Christianity as it has been first established, and the Roman 
pagan empire, opposing Christianity. 3. "And the things which 
shall be hereafter/ 7 are the destruction of the Roman Empire. The 
great apostacy of the Roman Church, setting up an image of this 
pagan Roman Empire, whose provinces shall become kingdoms, the 
kings of which shall be as vassals of popery. The persecutions of 
Christians under this new form of a pagan empire. The scourges 
by which it shall be destroyed, and the final triumph of the Church 
over her enemies. Let Christians be faithful unto death, the 
things which the Lord is to reveal to his churches shall certainly 
come to pass; for he says : "I am he that liveth, and was dead; 
and, behold, I am alive forever more, and have the keys of hell 
and of death." I shall be in the midst of my churches in their 
trials and tribulation ; I shall know their faithfulness, their luke- 
warmuess, and backslidings. Let them be not afraid of death; of 
the anathemas of their enemies ; for I am God ; I have been put to 
death and have overcome death in his dominion ; I have the keys 
of hell and of death ; it is I who save and destroy, and I will give 



COMMENTARY. 23 

to my servants eternal life ; and though men will condemn them to 
hell, I will receive them into my glorious kingdom and have them 
to sit with me on the thrones of the kings of the earth. 

V. 20. "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in ray right 
hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of 
the seven churches ; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the 
seven churches." 

This verse is connected with the preceding, and it is like an 
explanation of the words : " Write the things which thou hast seen, 
and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; 
the mystery of the seven stars." That is, the things which are and 
shall be, are typified, represented by the mystery of the seven 
stars, " Which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven can- 
dlesticks/' The mystery of the seven stars and of the seven golden 
candlesticks does not consist in their representing the seven 
churches of Asia and their angels or bishops ; but, it consists in 
their typifying seven distinct periods or ages of the Church — the 
things that are and shall be — before the coming of our Lord, as it 
is clearly indicated by this admonition, addressed not to one parti- 
cular church, but to all the churches. u He that hath an ear, let 
him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches/' Besides this, 
there are several characters, in every epistle, addressed to the 
churches, which can in no wise be applied to them, whilst they 
present to us a faithful picture of the different^ states of the uni- 
versal Church ; and they are like the canvas, which the painter 
has prepared, and upon which the picture of events is to be drawn. 
These letters thus explained, preserve the unity of the Revelation, 
which does not exist, if they are exclusively applied to the 
churches of Asia. And again, the texts declare positively that the 
mystery of the stars and candlesticks, representing the churches 
and their bishops, consists in giving us a picture of the things 
which the prophet has seen, and which are and shall be hereafter. 
Therefore any other exposition of the seven churches is erroneous, 
as it will be seen in the exposition of the seven letters. The ob- 
jections against their interpretation have no other ground, than the 
wrong explanation of their emblems, and the false classification of 
the periods which they represent. 



24 COMMENTARY. 



CHAPTER II. 



LETTERS TO THE ANGELS OF THE CHURCHES OF EPHESUS 

SMYRNA — PERGAMOS AND THYATIRA. 

/. The Church of Ephesus, a type of the state of the Church, from the founda- 
tion of Christianity to the Diocletian Persecution in 303. 

V. 1-7. " Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write, These things 
saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the 
midst of the seven golden candlesticks ; I know thy works, and thy labor, 
and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil ; and 
thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found 
them liars ; and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast 
labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, 
because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence 
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works ; or else I will come unto 
thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou 
repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, 
which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
unto the Churches ; to him that overcorneth will I give to eat of the tree of 
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." 

As the names of places, cities, and persons were significative, 
among the ancients, and especially among the Hebrews, and re- 
minded some events, as the names of Abraham, of Israel (Gen. 17 : 
4-5; 32 : 28), so the names of the seven churches, to which the 
letters were addressed, have been chosen by the Holy Ghost, be- 
cause they represent by their Greek etymology, the character of 
every age, which is typified by the names of the churches. The 
name " Ephesus/' from the Greek " Ephesis," means "desire," and 
characterizes consequently a church such as Jesus Christ desires 
that she should be; were it not for the reproaches which are spe- 
cified in the letter. This church is the type of the primitive 
Church so far as to 803, and includes the events which are coinci- 
dent to those which are contained in the four first seals (6 : 1-8). 

1. " Jesus holdeth the seven stars," (the pastors of his Church) 
in his right hand, giving them understanding and wisdom accord- 
ing to their circumstances, and peace and -joy in the Holy Ghost, 
if they are faithful ; for he walketh in the midst of the churches, 
as the good Shepherd of souls, as he promises his disciples to be 
with them always, even unto the end of the world. He protects 
them from devouring wolves ; and, if any one hurts them, he has 



COMMENTARY. 25 

his bow to pierce the adversaries in the day of his vengeance. The 
civil wars of the Roman Empire, the cruel Neros and Caligulas, 
the famine and pestilence which wasted this empire, were as many 
scourges, by which he avenged the blood of his martyrs. 2. The 
good Shepherd knows the works, and labors, and patience of the 
churches during the persecutions by which they were tried. Chris- 
tians, instead of being afraid of death, rejoiced that they had been 
judged worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. Many a time, their calm 
and firmness in the midst of torments, wearied their bloody execu- 
tioners ; and man} 7 a time the pagan witness of so noble heroism 
exclaimed: "And I also am a Christian!" Hence it was said 
that the blood of martyrs was a seed of Christians. Their zeal for 
the glory of their Master was such that the greater part of the vast 
Roman Empire had become Christians, at the end of the third 
century. 3. " Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, 
and are not, and hast found them liars." When the Jews and 
the heathens became Christians, they refused to renounce entirely 
the prejudices of their religion and the errors of their former 
education ; hence originated the struggles which the primitive 
Church had to sustain against the false apostles. 

The writings of the apostles teach us that the blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth from all sin, that we are saved by grace and not 
by works ; but the Jewish doctors maintained that works are the 
efficient cause of salvation and eternal felicity. Plato's followers 
taught their philosophic opinions, — those of Pythagoras prescribed 
a rigid temperance, — Marcion rejected the manger and the cross of 
Christ, — Valentine added to the gospel passages to favor his errors, 
— Manes or Manichee attempted to unite together Manicheism and 
Christianity, — others composed new writings, under the names of 
the apostles, which they entitled "Letters or Acts of the blessed 
Peter, Paul, James!" and such was the origin of those spurious 
gospels, of which thirty and sometimes fifty are reckoned by infi- 
dels, though they know very well that they were rejected by the 
primitive Church, like their authors, as soon as they appeared. 

Nevertheless, these errors did not interfere with the administra- 
tion of the Church or the exercise of brotherly love. At first, the 
government of the Church was in the hands of the people, elders, 
and deacons. The people elected to the offices, judged all cases, 
and gave a final judgment. The elders were the council board. 
Their chief, named at first the angel of the church, and afterwards 
bishop or pastor, administered the affairs of the church, taught the 
people, celebrated the divine mysteries, and oversaw the relief of 
the poor. To the deacons was given the function of providing for 
the wants of the poor and maintaining order and decency in the 



26 COMMENTARY. 

temples. In the second century, they formed ecclesiastic pro- 
vinces, which the Greeks called "dioceses." These provinces 
were independent one of another; but, as confederated states, they 
sent delegates to the assemblies held at fixed times to deliberate 
upon the common interest of the churches. The Greeks called 
these assemblies "synods," and the Latins, "councils." The 
laws discussed there and decreed were called " canons," or rules 
by which the whole body of the Church ought to be governed. 

As these assemblies were entirely composed of ecclesiastics, they 
degenerated into reunions in which they worked to diminish the 
privileges of the people, and to increase the authority of the 
ministers. At first, they professed to be the delegates of the pro- 
vinces, to act only in the name of the people and by their approba- 
tion. But soon after, they asserted that Jesus Christ had given 
them the power to establish rules of morals and faith. They de- 
stroyed even equality among themselves by the distinctions of 
"Patriarchs and Metropolitans." The deacons wished to have 
also inferiors; and they created what they called "the four minor 
orders." At the end of the third century, the people had lost 
almost all their privileges. The councils of eiders were despised 
by the bishops, — and the bishops of Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, as 
chiefs of primitive churches, attempted already to arrogate to 
themselves a sort of pre-eminence over their colleagues. It was to 
quell this ambitious spirit that Saint Cyprian of Carthage exclaimed 
afterwards : "Is it also written that there shall be bishops of 
bishops !" The ambition of pastors weakened the brotherly love of 
Christians, and it is the reason for which the Lord reproves them 
and invites them to repentance. 

The commentators, who attempt to apply the contents of this 
letter to the Church of Ephesus, are greatly perplexed to explain 
what were the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, spoken of here and in the 
third letter, v. 15. According to them, the Nicolaitanes were 
followers of Nicolas, a deacon of Antioch. But is it not said of 
him, as of the others, that he was a man full of faith and of the 
Holy Ghost ? (Acts 6:5.) They say, without any proof, that they 
were an avowed sect of the most abominable Antinomians, without 
law and teaching the community of women. But history does not 
speak of such a sect ; and it is certain that, had they been such 
men, who by the fact have no part with the people of God, Jesus 
would not say of them, as of people, good yet in some respect : 
" But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, 
which I also hate." 

The word "Nicolaitanes" is composed of two Greek words, 
which, according to their etymology, signify " Domineer over the 



COMMENTARY. 27 

people." Therefore, the Lord reproves, under this name, these 
ambitious pastors, who had excluded the people from the adminis- 
tration of the Church — who had created laws to overrule them as 
they pleased — who attempted to domineer one over the other, and 
prepared in this manner the way for the man of sin, the great 
Antichrist. He praises the churches, because they hated the 
usurpations of these ambitious men, who, as the son of perdition, 
exalted themselves above their brethren, and attempted to sit as 
gods in the temple of God (Thess. 2 : 3-12). The same word is 
yet found in the letter to the Church of Pergamos, which is the 
type of the Church, exalted by the favors of Constantino ; and there 
as here it represents the same ambition, which was the cause of the 
spiritual death, or apostacy of the Roman bishop. If there were 
not a mysterious meaning under this name, as in every letter to the 
churches, the Lord would not say immediately after, as at the end 
of his parables : " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches." Therefore, we want understand- 
ing to hear the sense of these words, and nevertheless there is no 
difficulty, if they are to be understood according to their literal 
sense. 

The defect of this a2;e of the Church is the ambition of eccle- 
siastics, and the leaving of the first love (Acts 2 : 42-47). To 
him who overcometh this ambitious spirit, and continueth in the 
first love, the Lord will give eternal life, and restore him in the 
possession of heaven (22 : 1-5). If the churches do not repent, 
he will remove the candlestick, which is the emblem of the grace 
and spiritual light, which the Holy Ghost sheds upon the churches, 
from which men receive the light and wisdom which lead to eternal 
life. They did not repent. Popery came out of the bottomless 
pit, and with it the Middle Age ; and the Koran took the place 
of the gospel in Asia, Africa, and part of Europe. 

Note. — It is supposed that St. John was the first pastor of 
Ephesus. This city is famous for two councils held there, in 431 
and in 449. In the first, Mary was proclaimed the mother of God, 
notwithstanding the protestations of Nestorius, the Patriarch of 
Constantinople, who contended that Mary could not be, at the same 
time, the mother of God the Father, and God the Son. That it 
would be imitating the folly of the heathens, who gave mothers to 
their gods. In the second, Eutyches and his followers maintained 
that Jesus Christ has but one nature. This heresy was condemned, 
two years after, in the General Council of Chalcedon. This second 
council, at Ephesus, is called, " A gang of felons." This church, 



28 COMMENTARY. 

as well as the six others which we are to examine, is under the 
power of the Turks, and it is in a state of ruins. 



II. Letter to the Angel of the Church in Smyrna, a type of the Second Age of the 
Church, from 303 to 313. Diocletian Persecution. 

V. 8-11. "And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna, write: These 
things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive : I know thy 
works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich), and I know the blas- 
phemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue 
of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the 
devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried : and ye shall 
have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a 
crown of life. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 
the Churches ; he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." 

The word Snryrna means " bitter myrrh," according to its 
etymology, and represents very well the affliction of the Church 
during the Diocletian Persecution, which continued ten years. It 
gives a picture of the events contained under the fifth and sixth 
seal, to wit : the pagan persecutions, and the destruction of pagan- 
ism and its supporters, by the victories of Constantine the Great. 

The Jews, being envious of the progress of Christianity, ceased 
not to oppress the Christians with the most unjust accusations and 
odious calumnies. The pagan priests, incensed also by a fury 
which seemed unknown to them before, accused them to be the 
cause of the plagues which wasted the empire. They set on fire 
the palace of Kicomedia, then inhabited by Diocletian, and charged 
them with this crime. The Roman people, united in a spectacle, 
given them by the Emperor Maximian, cried twelve times : " Death 
to the Christians I" and the Emperor answered as many times : 
" Let there be Christians no more !" A medal was stamped with 
this inscription : u Christianorum nomine deleto," that is, for the 
remembrance of the destruction of the Christians' name. 

The persecution began on the day of the passover. The edict, 
which the Emperor Diocletian had made in Nicomedia, enacted 
that the churches and houses, where the Christians assembled, 
should be demolished. That they should be forced to deliver up 
their divine books to be burned. That the pastors or bishops 
should be put to death or in prison. That none of the Christians 
should be admitted into any office, trade, or science, and they were 
to be obliged by torments to sacrifice to the gods. Sulpicius 
Severus speaks in this manner of that persecution : — 

" There was," says he, " under the Emperors Diocletian and 
Maximian, a most bloody persecution, in which a great slaughter 



COMMENTARY. 29 

of the people of God was perpetrated during ten consecutive years. 
In that time, almost the whole world was inundated with the pre- 
cious blood of martyrs; for they ran emulously into glorious com- 
bats ; and, then, they were more ambitious of the honors of mar- 
tyrdom, than, at present, of the bishoprics that they seek after by 
unlawful solicitations. The world was never so much exhausted 
by any war, and we have never gained by our victories more glo- 
rious triumphs, than when we were not conquered by the mas- 
sacres of ten years/' (Hist. Sacr., lib. 2, cap. 32.) 

Now, we can understand why our Lord takes the title of " the 
first and the last, which was dead, and is alive. " It is because a 
dreadful persecution is foretold here ; and he strengthens his ser- 
vants against the terror of torments and death, by reminding them 
that he is Jehovah, the prince of life. He reminds them of his 
triumph over death by his glorious resurrection ; and then lie in- 
vites them, at the end of the letter, not to fear the things which 
they shall suffer ; for the devil will cast some of them into prison, 
that they may be tried. They shall have " tribulation" (persecu- 
tion) "ten days," which, in the prophetic style, are taken for 
years (Ez. 4-6). They ought not to be afraid of these persecu- 
tions ) they must be faithful unto death, and he will give them the 
crown, of life. Pie that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second 
death, which is the agony of the soul in eternal torments. And 
for the death of the body, which is the first death, he will raise 
them up, as he raised up himself, triumphing over death in his 
dominion. 

The Lord is not ignorant of the sufferings of his people ; he is 
near by them; he is witness of their labors, combats, afflictions, 
and apparent poverty (for they are rich before God) ; he knows 
also the slanders and blasphemies of their enemies. " They say 
they are Jews (the people of God), and are not, but are the syna- 
gogue of Satan," united with the devil and all the enemies of 
God, to destroy his people. ! how poor and unfortunate the 
martyrs of the Lord appeared to mortal eyes, when they were 
taken away by night from their families, to be cast into prison, 
and to be put to torture and burned at the stake ; or when, in 
escaping from their persecutors, they carried away their children 
through the ice and snow of the winter, to go and live in the 
forests with wild beasts ! But how rich and happy to the eyes of 
God and of his saints, and how preferable their condition was to 
that of their ferocious oppressors ! 

Persecution, in the Church of God, is like the fire by which 
Christians are tried, as gold and silver are tried. This Church in 
Smyrna is spotless. There is here no Nicolaitanes ; there is no 

8* 



30 COMMENTARY. 

other ambition than to die for the Lord. Nevertheless its candlestick 
has been removed as that of the other churches, though it is yet a 
large and prosperous city. The reason is, that it was by its name, 
a type of the state of the church, as it is clearly delineated in his- 
tory ; and it was not a prediction of persecutions appointed for this 
particular church. The ten days of tribulation point out clearly 
this persecution of ten years ; it was the tenth persecution, and it 
continued ten years; after which the persecutors were themselves 
destroyed (see the fifth and sixth seal, 6 : 9-17). 



III. Letter to the Church of Pergamos, a type of the Third Age of the Church, 
from 313 to 606, when Boniface III. became Pope. The Church exalted. 

V. 12-17. "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos, write : These 
things says he which hath the sharp sword, with two edges ; I know thy 
works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is; and thou holdest 
fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein 
Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan 
dwelieth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them 
that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block 
before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to com- 
mit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrines of the Nico- 
laitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, 
and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an 
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that 
overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a 
white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth 
saving he that receiveth it." 

The word u Pergamos," according to its etymology, means a 
"fortress; elevation." PXenry confesses that there is no city of 
this name. Some suppose that it was a city, built on the ruins of 
the ancient Ilion, whose fortress was called by this name ; and 
some others suppose it may probably be Bergamo, a city situated at 
about sixty-three miles north of Smyrna. And to explain how this 
city is the seat of Satan, they are obliged to suppose again, that 
there was a most wicked Roman governor living there. Therefore, 
the contents of this letter can only be explained by the history of 
those times, which followed the victories of Constantine, from 313 
to 606, when the bishop of Rome was proclaimed "universal 
bishop, or pope," by the Emperor Phocas. And this age of the 
Church figured by the Church of Pergamos, synchronizes with the 
sealing of the servants of Grod (7 : 1-8) and the events, sounded 
by the four first trumpets, namely, the decay and fall of the 
Roman Empire (8 : 7-13). Now, after the events of this time, 
we can explain why Jesus Christ takes here the title of him 



COMMENTABY. 31 

"which hath the sharp sword, with two edges," — where is Satan's 
seat, — who was his faithful martyr Antipas, slain where Satan 
dwelleth, — what is the doctrine of Balaam, and that of the Nico- 
laitanes, — and finally, what is this manna, and this white stone, 
which are to be the reward of him that overcometh. 

1. As soon as Constantine became the master of the throne of 
the Roman Empire, he declared that Christianity should be the 
religion of the empire : this is the Church of Pergamos, the 
church exalted and surrounded with riches, honors, and gran- 
deurs. The bishop of Rome, especially, has but one step more to 
advance and to ascend up to the throne. The simplicity of the 
primitive worship, in spirit and in truth, did not any more suit a 
church so highly favored ; and the evangelical poverty seemed to 
be unbecoming for ministers surrounded with such earthly gran- 
deurs. Therefore, they established a pompous, pagan worship, 
and invented human teachings, according to their worldly circum- 
stances. The temples were adorned with magnificent pictures, 
representing the constancy and death of martyrs. Soon after, it 
was said that those pictures performed miracles; they went by 
multitudes to the tombs of those they represented ; and, in the 
midst of the fifth century, it was publicly admitted that prayers 
should be addressed to them. In 431, Mary was said to be the 
mother of God; the relics became objects of idolatry; feast-days 
were established in honor of the saints, and molten images were 
introduced into the temples. It was in this manner that Satan's 
seat was raised up in the midst of Christians, who had henceforth 
to worship as many saints, their new mediators, as the heathens 
had semigods. This is not all. The Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper, this simple and touching commemoration of our Saviour's 
death, was invested by vain and pompous ceremonies, borrowed 
from the Jews and from the heathens, and it became what they 
call "Mass," a sacrifice that is offered for the living and the dead, 
and even in our days for the healing of animals. When Jesus 
Christ takes the title of him "which hath the sharp sword, with 
two edges," the emblem of his word, he warns us that in this age, 
represented by the church of Pergamos, the purity of the Chris- 
tian doctrines shall be corrupted by human devices. But, as, by 
his word, he caused heaven and earth to come forth from naught, 
he can, by a single word, bring out of the deserts numberless 
armies to punish unfaithful Christians, and overthrow Satan's seat. 
They did not repent : he fought against them " with the sword of 
his mouth j" and at his word ten barbarian nations came out of 
their forests, and destroyed the Roman Empire. 

2. Where is Satan's seat, wherein the faithful martyr, Antipas, 



82 CO M M. ENTARY. 

was slain? The prophet himself tells us (17 : 1, 9, 18), that it is 
in that city which is built on seven mountains, and which reigneth 
over the kings of the earth, and peoples, and multitudes, and 
nations, and tongues. Now, by this description, every one recog- 
nizes the city of Rome. It was, then, there that Antipas, this 
faithful martyr, was slain. But, if we consult tradition, so fecund 
in inventions, we find no bishop, no martyr of this name, either in 
Rome or elsewhere ; and, if any martyr of that name were to be 
found there, the Holy Ghost would not designate him by his name. 
Therefore, it is spoken here of an extraordinary martyrdom, — of 
the spiritual martyrdom or spiritual death of the bishop of Rome, 
who was before a faithful witness of the truth. But Satan has 
killed him by his riches and worldly grandeurs. He was seduced 
by worldly grandeurs, and, in his apostacy, he became the enemy 
of all true Christians, as it is indicated by the name "Antipas." 
For this name is composed of two Greek words, u anti" (against; 
opposed to), and of "pas" (all); and this name, Antipas, charac- 
terizes in this manner the nature of his apostacy, or of his spiritual 
death, which shall consist, in the time of its fulfilment, in his 
being opposed to all Christians, depriving them of the word of 
God, and forcing them either to obey his worldly authority, or to 
perish in dungeons, or at the stake. 

3. Notwithstanding that apostacy, "thou holdest fast my name, 
and hast not denied my faith." This Church does not renounce 
Christianity : it is but an impure alloy of paganism with Chris- 
tianity; and the authors of this alloy are like Balaam, who being 
unable to curse the people of God, persuaded King Balak to put an 
offence before the children of Israel, to cause them to fall into 
impurity and idolatry, knowing that God himself would curse them, 
if they fell into fornication and idolatry. To teach men to kneel 
down before images, and to pray to the saints, is, according to the 
prophetic expressions, to teach them "to eat things sanctified unto 
idols, and to commit fornication," as to eat the flesh of Jesus 
Christ is to believe on him (John 6 : 50-56); it is to overthrow 
Jesus Christ from his mediatorial throne to enthrone the demons 
or the souls of dead men, who have been canonized. He who 
teaches such doctrines, and he who practises them, eat, that is, 
believe, as the heathens did, things sacrificed unto idols, and 
commit spiritual fornication : they have been slain where Satan 
dwelleth, though they hold fast the name of Jesus, and have not 
denied his faith. 

4. We have seen, in the letter to the Church of Ephesus, that 
the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, — a name composed of two Greek 
words " nika" (victory) and " laos" (people) — characterizes the 



COMMENTARY. 38 

ambition of the ecclesiastics, who, after having deprived the people 
of all their privileges in the administration of the Church, 
attempted to domineer the one over the other. As the existence 
of such heretics is unknown in the history of the primitive church, 
Eusebius says that they continued but a short time, and Tertullian 
says that their heresy existed under the name of "Cainists," 
having probably changed the name of their sect. It is, then, 
evident, that all that is supposition, and that this sect is known 
only by this Revelation. I dare even say, had such a sect existed, 
it would not be mentioned here by its proper name. These 
Nicolaitanes have disappeared during the persecution, represented 
by the letter to the. Church of Smyrna; for ambition is silent, 
when persecution rages; but it is awakened in these prosperous 
days of the Church. Besides this, it is necessary that a chief 
should be raised up at the head of the great apostacy, to guide and 
manage its progress : for the time, when the man of sin, the son 
of perdition, should be revealed, is at hand : he who opposes him ' 
will be taken away very soon : Constantinople contends with Rome 
for that pre-eminence; but Satan has given the preference to 
Rome, the city in which all the pagan gods had their throne. 

5. " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden 
manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new 
name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." 
This manna, promised to faithful Christians, is not that manna 
that the Israelites ate in the wilderness, and which did not prevent 
their death : it is the possession of Himself, of the grace which is 
in Him, and the spiritual nourishment of his word, from which 
sources of living waters spring forth to give eternal life. This 
spiritual nourishment and its secret delights are hidden from the 
eyes of the semi-Christian and of the stranger. It may be seen 
that there is here an allusion made to the sealing of the hundred 
and forty-four thousand servants of the Lord, to be his witnesses 
during the Middle Age (7 : 4-8) ; for it shall be demonstrated, in 
the eleventh chapter, that the first witness has been sealed, about 
425, Protestantism, as Reformed churches, being the second, and 
the Albigenses and Waldenses, as primitive churches, being the 
first witness, nourished, as the Israelites, in the wilderness, by the 
word of God. And, as the Greeks used to give to him that had 
overcome in their games, a white stone upon which were written 
his name and the sort of games in which he had obtained the 
victory, s^the Lord will give to him that overcometh the ambition 
and idolatrous inventions of this epoch a white stone upon which 
shall be written his new name " heretic or Protestant," according 
to men, but son of God by adoption, and entitled to his heavenly 



34 CO M MENTARY. 

heritage. No man knoweth this name of Protestant, saving he 
that receiveth it ) for to others it is a damnable heresy, though 
they are not ignorant of the abominations of popery, which they 
hold to be the true Church of God (see this new name in the 
Church of Philadelphia). 

All the characters of this letter give us a faithful picture of the 
Church after the victories of Constantine to the reign of the 
usurper Phocas. The Church was exalted, as it is signified by the 
name of Pergamos. Rome, as it is avowed by the popish doctors 
themselves, is designated to be the seat of Antichrist; it is this 
mystic Sodom and Babylon, where Jesus Christ has been crucified. 
Its bishop, surrounded with worldly grandeurs, abandoned the 
purity of Christianity, raised up molten images in the temples of 
God, ordered a pompous worship, at the imitation of paganism, 
and substituted saints and saintesses to be worshipped, like demi- 
gods, so that a learned Spanish doctor, Louis Vives, declares, that 
he cannot see what may be the difference to be established between 
the pagan demi-gods and the saints, except, perhaps, he says, that 
saints are real beings, whilst the pagan gods were imaginary ones. 
Idolatry being introduced into the temple of God, the bishop of 
Rome, the faithful martyr, Antipas, killed by the devil, became 
Antichrist. He attempted to arrogate to himself the title of uni- 
versal bishop, granted to him by a decree of Justinian, which was 
published in 533, according to the records of Bucholcer and Sigo- 
nius. But the churches, still animated by the Spirit of God, 
dared then to deny it to him. In 587, a great contest arose in a 
council at Constantinople, concerning this title, which the bishop 
of that church tried to attribute to himself. He attempted again, 
in 594, to entitle himself "universal bishop;" and the bishop of 
Rome, Gregory the Great, wrote to him, in 602, a letter, in which 
he says, that the bishop, who should usurp this title, would be by 
his pride, the forerunner of Antichrist, if he were not the Anti- 
christ himself. Four years after, in 608, his successor, Boniface 
III., was proclaimed universal bishop, by the favor of the usurper 
Phocas. 






IV. Letter to the Church in Thyatira, a type of the state of the Church from 606 
to the destruction of the Mbigenses in 1260. 

V. 18-29. "And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These 
things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and 
his feet are like fine brass ; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and 
faith, and thy patience, and thy works ; and the last to he more than the first. 
Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that 
woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce 



COMMENTARY. 35 

my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication ; and she repented not. 
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her 
into a great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her 
children with death ; and all the churches shall know that I am he which 
searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you ac- 
cording to your works. 

" But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira (as many as have not 
this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak), 
I will put upon you none other burden : but that which ye have already 
hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works 
unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule 
them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to 
shivers; even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morn- 
ing star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
churches."' 

The name of " Thyatira" is composed of two Greek words, 
" thuos" (incense, perfume, victim), and of " teiro" (to afflict, 
torment, destroy), and signifies, according to its etymology, ground 
incense or consumption of victims. It is the type of the Church, 
afflicted, persecuted by the man of sin, to whom it was given to 
tread under foot the Holy City, forty and two months (11 : 2). 
This period synchronizes with the fifth trumpet, and contains the 
manifestation of the man of sin, in Boniface III. — the incursions 
of the Saracens, followers of Mahomet — the middle age and the 
crusades against the Turks and the Albigenses. 

The Roman bishop has been put to a spiritual death, by Satan 
or by worldly grandeurs. He has made an odious alloy of paganism 
and Christianity; he has been sustained in his impure innovations 
by those ambitious, designated under the name of Nicolaitanes, who 
hoped to share in the favors which he received from the emperors. 
The Lord is angry with them: they are no more his people; he 
will fight against them with the sword of his mouth, and he will 
abandon them into the hands of the master which they have 
chosen. Satan cast out of his mouth (paganism) hordes of savages, 
the armies of the Goths under Alaric, — the Vandals under Genseric 
— the Scythes, called Huns, under Attila, — and the Heruli, under 
Odoacre, to accomplish, by turns, the vengeance of the Lord. The 
powerful Roman Empire, figured by the fourth beast, in the vision 
of Daniel (7 : 1-26), became the prey of ten barbarian nations, 
which raised up ten kingdoms out of its ruins. And thus ended 
the first part of the Antichristian Empire; the first times are 
passed; the last are at hand. The key of the destruction of the 
Roman Empire is in the hands of the Bishop of Rome. 

Everything favors the ambition of the Roman bishop. The 
emperors have but a shade of authority. The pageantry by which 



o6 COMMENTARY. 

this bishop is surrounded, and the pompous ceremonies in the 
temples, moved with awe the barbarians; and he became, between 
them and the emperors and the provinces of the empire, which 
had to ask for favors or the redress of their complaints-, a powerful 
mediator, who in advocating their causes, did not forget to profit, 
by his mediation, to succeed in his ambitious designs. The in- 
famous Phocas, having caused the Emperor Mauritius and all his 
family to be slaughtered, took possession of the empire. He felt 
that he needed the favor of the Roman bishop, to be sustained in 
his usurpation, and he bought it, by investing him with the so long 
coveted title of Universal Bishop, in 606. 

The ambitious Nicolaitanes have now a worldly king, to overrule 
the Church. In 607, according to Sigebert and Polonus, he 
ordered a feast day for all the dead ; but, according to other 
annalists, it was only instituted in 993, by Odilon, an abbot of 
Clugny. The following year, he obtained from Phocas, the pos- 
session of the Pantheon ; and this famous temple, consecrated to 
Jupiter and to all the pagan gods, had henceforth this new inscrip- 
tion : " To the Virgin Mary, and all the saints. " Every year, new 
feast days, new dogmas were instituted, and the worship of images 
was nearly established everywhere. In 723, the Emperor Leon 
attempted to stop the progress of idolatry : he ordered to break in 
pieces all the graven images, to which a religious worship was 
rendered ; but he was excommunicated by the Pope Gregory II. 
In 754, a general council, held in Constantinople, condemned the 
worship of images and their worshippers ; but their worship was 
re-established in 787, by the Council of Nice. In 793, a numerous 
council, held in Francfort, condemned the Council of Nice, as " an 
impertinent, absurd council, held to order the worship of images 
and paintings." This idolatrous worship was again condemned by 
another council in 814; but it was finally sanctioned in 842, by the 
council held in Constantinople, which condemned, as damnable 
heretics, the enemies of this idolatry, known and persecuted under 
the name of " Iconoclasts." 

The worship of the saints was also condemned, in a council held 
in Cordova, in 852; but the popish party began to overcome every- 
where the small number of faithful Christians. The abuse which 
the popes made of their usurped authority, went so far, that Saint 
Bernard himself, opposed the canonization of the saints, and wrote 
to the Pope: "Now, when you have canonized St. Anna, the 
mother of the Virgin Mary, what reason have you for not canoni- 
zing her grandmother and all her ancestors, up to Eva herself?" 

The kings themselves favored the ambition of the Roman bishop. 
This false successor of Peter had no earthly patrimony, and the 



COMMENTARY. 37 

King of the Lombards, Aripert, gave him the Celtic Alps, in 704. 
Three years after, he asked for and he obtained an exemption from 
all imperial jurisdiction for his new temporal dominion. The king 
Pepin, having been released by the Pope Zachariah, from his alle- 
giance to his king Childeric, granted him the Ravenna's exarchate, 
the dukedoms of Mantua, Spoletta, and Benevent. Charlemagne, 
crowned emperor of the Western Empire, in 801, added again new 
gifts to popedom, and pledged himself to destroy with his sword, 
all the ancient liturgies in France, Italy, and Germany, and to 
oblige all the churches to adopt the Roman liturgy, in order that a 
unity of worship and faith should be established everywhere. The 
power of the popes was soon unlimited ; and the kings themselves 
were very soon the humble vassals of popery. The monk, Hilde- 
brand, Gregory VII., imposed upon them a yoke which they were 
not able to break, even when the dark days of the Middle Age had 
passed away. The people were plunged more and more into the 
deepest ignorance; and the flatterers of the popes extolled, more 
and more, the popish pretensions, so that the power which was first 
looked upon as ridiculous, was, after some years, far behind their 
wishes and pretensions. False decretals were invented to conse- 
crate their ancient usurpations, and to grant them new prerogatives. 
The courtesans Theodora and Marosia, her daughter, placed on the 
papal throne their vile lovers, and the spurious offsprings of their 
debauchery, scarcely twelve years old. There were fifty popes, 
from the beginning of the eleventh century to the midst of the 
twelfth, and the historians say that there were not two of them, 
who could be called men, for they were all monsters. The money 
of the people went by thousand streams, called : " St. Peter's pence, 
investitures, annats, licenses, donations, &c. &c.," to be ingulfed 
into the papal strong box, as into a bottomless abyss. The people 
and the kingdoms were exhausted and miserable, whilst these mon- 
sters were living in luxury and lewdness. 

Nevertheless some few men dared to raise up their voice to op- 
pose the torrent, by which all were carried away. The Bishop of 
Florence dared to maintain, in 1105, that Antichrist was manifested; 
the Archbishop of Lyons was killed in Rome, in 1124, for having 
blamed the brutish depravity of the dignitaries of the papal court; 
Arnold of Brescia, was burnt for having revealed the papal tur- 
pitude ; Peter Waldo, from Lyons, and the Albigenses and 
Waldenses, protested loudly against popery and its innovations. 
And when, in the ninth century, Paschasius Radbert proposed the 
monstrous dogma of transubstantiation, an army of defenders of the 
evangelical truth arose to oppose it : they were Rabanus, Walafrid, 
Heribald, Prudentius, Fiorus, Scotus, and Bertram, who were the 

4 



88 COMMENTARY. 

lights of their century. But soon after, the people were plunged 
into the deepest ignorance ; the pope was looked upon as God on 
earth. Some doctors, then, went so far as to maintain that, should 
the pope decree that vice is virtue, and virtue vice, it would be so ; 
for God would confirm his words. Transubstantiation, so power- 
fully opposed, became a sacred dogma in a council, held in the 
Laterals palace, in 1215, and the auricular confession, born in 
627 at Chalons on the Marne, in a synod of fifty-two bishops, was 
then imposed upon the laymen, as at first upon the monks, and 
upon the priests in the eighth century. As the Albigenses had long 
been opposed to the papal pretensions and innovations, the same 
council was summoned to crush them; and, in 1260, about one 
hundred and twenty thousand of Albigenses were massacred by the 
Papists, under the command of St. Dominic and the Earl Simon of 
Montfort. They were besieged in their cities and villages, and 
hunted, as wild beasts, in the mountains and forests. Neither 
children nor women were spared ; the women were the victims of 
the most atrocious brutality of the soldiers, in the sight of the 
monks, who commanded them. Now, let us examine the emblems 
of the letter to the Church in Thyatira. 

1. It maybe understood, now, why Jesus appears with "eyes 
like unto a flame of fire," which is, in a man, the sign of indigna- 
tion and wrath. It is because the man of sin, the son of perdition, 
sitteth as God in the temple of God ; it is because his throne of 
Mediator has been overthrown in the temples and given to Mary, 
and to the multitude of saints and saintesses ; it is because the 
sublime mysteries of the gospel have been parodied, and the blood 
of his saints shed like water on the earth. At the sight of those 
abominations, established in the holy place, his eyes are like unto a 
flame of fire, which devours his enemies, and he reminds his Church 
that he is the Son of God, God himself, to strengthen his servants; 
" For his feet are like fine brass" (1 : 15), showing the strong foun- 
dation on which his Church is built, and the power of his wrath to 
crush down his enemies, who cannot prevail against him. 

2. Though the Church in Thyatira be scattered throughout this 
new Egypt, and hidden in the desert of popery, the Lord knows 
her faith, patience, and charity : he declares that her last works 
are more than the first. These words mean either that the perse- 
cutions she suffers from Papists are more cruel than those which 
the first Christians suffered from the heathens, or that the Church, 
at the end of this period, showed more zeal and courage to op- 
pose popery than at the beginning ; for it was but in 1194 that 
they began to be persecuted as heretics ; and in consequence of 
their silence, they have been supposed to be a new sect, unknown 



C O M M E N T A R Y. 39 

before the ninth century. But the first meaning maybe true also, 
for the heathens did not invent the horrors of the Inquisition, nor its 
torments, and did not raise armies of crusaders, to exterminate the 
Christians. 

3. Jezebel was not, as it is supposed by Scott and Henry, the 
wife* of the Pastor of this Church ; but the wife of Ahab, King of 
the Jews. (1 Kings, 16 : 29-34.) And, as she built an altar to her god 
Baal, in a temple at Samaria, and caused the children of Israel to 
turn to idols; as she persecuted the prophets of the Lord, Ahijah 
and Elijah, to put them to death, and ordered Naboth's death, to 
take possession of his vineyard (1 Kings, 21 : 1-16), so the Papal 
Church, whose type Jezebel is, draws the servants of the Lord to 
idols, persecutes them, and puts them to death, to take possession of 
their heritage. The Lord reproves this Church, because she suffers 
that woman, Jezebel (the Roman Church likened to a great whore 
17 : 1), which calleth herself a prophetess (infallible, speaking as 
inspired with the Holy Ghost), uttering the oracles of God, " to 
teach and seduce his servants to commit fornication, and to eat 
things sacrificed unto idols." The word fornication must be un- 
derstood in a spiritual sense, as the word adultery, which is applied 
to unfaithful churches, to Jerusalem and Samaria. As an un- 
faithful wife commits adultery, when she prostitutes her love to a 
stranger, so an unfaithful Christian, wedded to Christ, commits a 
spiritual adultery, when he kneels before the stone and wood, and 
prays to the saints or semigods. Here, it is only spoken of forni- 
cation, because the Roman Church is not the bride of Jesus Christ. 
This proneness of our nature to idolatry is very strong, and however 
light a sin it may appear to worldly philosophers, it was the sin 
which was the cause of all the scourges of the Jewish people. To 
eat things sacrificed unto idols, means to believe and worship like 
the heathens (John 6 : 50-56), as to eat the body of Christ is to 
believe on him. 

4. "And I gave her space to repent of her fornication." This 
time given to the Roman Church to repent, is marked in different 
manners in the word of Grod. Sometimes, it is expressed under the 
emblems of a a time and times, and the dividing of time," which 
make 1260 years, a time being taken for the lunar year, or 360 
days, which are as many years, according to the prophetic style. 
Sometimes, it is expressed under the emblem of forty -two months, 
and sometimes, when it is applied to the faithful Church, under 
that of 1260 days, the number of years being the same ; but, as an 
idolatrous church is emblematically represented by the moon, her 
years are reckoned by months or times, revolutions; and for the 
faithful Church, which walks in the light, her years are reckoned 



40 COMMENTARY. 

by days, wliicli make as inaaay years. Now, the Iloman Church 
has continued, in her errors and extravagant pretensions, more than 
twelve centuries, "and she repented not/' though she has been 
often "cast into a bed," as a sick person, feeble and ready to die. 
It is not said that it is in this age of the Church that the Lord will 
cast her into a bed of sickness, but it is in future times, as she was 
very weak and infirm, when she had two, and, sometimes, three 
popes, at the head of armies, excommunicating one another, and 
draining the purse of the poor victims of their superstitions and 
idolatry ; and when the intrepid Ziska, at the head of the Bohe- 
mians, avenged the death of John Huss, and of Jerome of Prague, 
and defeated the papal armies; and when Luther unchained the 
Bible, and wounded popery in such a manner that it is more and 
more weak, until another wound shall put it to death. 

5. " And I will cast them that commit adultery with her into 
great tribulation. And I will kill her children with death." 
Those who commit adultery with her are the kings and the people, 
supporters of popery, who receive and profess her idolatrous re- 
ligion. The kings were crushed down under foot by the popes, 
whose humble vassals they were, being obliged to hold the stirrups 
to their master, and to kiss his feet to obtain his favors. He had 
only to say: "I excommunicate you," and the monarch, aban- 
doned by his superstitious subjects, asked in vain from his servants 
for the succor which they denied him. One, shut up in a dark 
room as a wild and infectious beast, received through a hole the 
meals which two faithful servants were willing to give him with 
trembling ; another, abandoned even by his wife and children, was 
obliged to put a cord around his neck, and to go barefooted in the 
snow of the winter, to kneel down three days, at the gate of the 
palace, where the arrogant master, revelling in debauchery, re- 
fused to receive him. The kings had forged themselves their 
chains, in forging those of their people, who had willingly sub- 
mitted to the will of their masters; because they received not the 
love of the truth, that they might be saved. They were all 
punished by the avarice and ambition of the popes, by the bloody 
wars, undertaken either to sustain their pretensions, or to destroy 
their competitors, during their schisms ; and above all, by the wars 
of the crusades, against the Turks, in which millions of Papists, 
her children, were destroyed, during 150 years. From these curses 
upon papists, kings and subjects, the faithful churches should know 
that Jesus is "he which searcheth the reins and hearts," who pro- 
tects his servants and breaks his enemies with an iron rod, giving 
unto every one according to his works. 

6. " But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many 



COMMENTARY 41 

as have not this doctrine (popish doctrine), and which have not 
known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you 
none other burden." The depths of Satan are, as the Albigenses 
and Waldenses used to call them, the cunning policy and the stra- 
tagems, by which popery, guided by Satan, was enabled to draw to 
its idolatry all the people, which were enslaved by its satanic delu- 
sions. Christians have nothing else to do than to be faithful, and 
to contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, to 
hold it fast till the Lord comes ; for his work is to believe on him 
whom he hath sent (John 6 : 29). " And he that overcometh, and 
keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the 
nations : and he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels 
of a potter shall they be broken to shivers : even as I received of 
my Father. And I will give him the morning star." If Christians 
are, now, trampled under foot by the Papists, called " the nations" 
the time will come when they shall have power over them. And, 
as Jesus has received power over the nations, to rule them by his 
providence, with a rod of iron, with wars, famine, pestilence, and 
tempests, which are the rod of the Lord, so Christians shall have 
this power to break them with a rod of iron in the great day of the 
Lord, called u the vintage," in Armageddon, the mountain of de- 
struction. This day is called : " The marriage supper of the 
Lamb" (19 : 9-21). Christians of every age have a share in the 
combat and triumph; for they shall follow their Master upon white 
horses, clothed in fine linen 7 white and clean ; as they are, now, 
living in the night of popery, they receive the morning star, shin- 
ing in the firmament, before the rising of the sun, to scatter the 
darkness by which they are surrounded. This morning star is, for 
the conqueror, the token of the light and glory by which he shall 
be surrounded, when the sun of righteousness shall arise and shine 
with all his strength, though he is now, in his present condition, 
as in a wild desert, a prey to distress and misery. 

The words : " But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thya- 
tira," are addressed to the churches, as they were before the 
crusade against them, and to the "rest," which had escaped from 
the massacre. It is of this rest that the Church of Sardis is the 
emblem, in the following chapter. 

4* 



42 COMMENTARY. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SEVEN CHURCHES CONTINUED — THE CHURCHES OF SAUDIS, 
PHILADELPHIA, AND LAODICEA. 

V. Letter to the Church in Sardis, a type of the state of the Church from the 
destruction of the Albigenses, in 1260, to the Reformation in 1517. 

V. 1-6. " And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write : These 
things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars ; I 
know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be 
watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for 
I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how 
thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou 
shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shaltnot know what 
hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which 
have not defiled their garments j and they shall walk with me in white ; for 
they are worthy. 

" He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment ; and I 
will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name 
before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear 
what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 

The name " Sardis' ' is composed of two Greek words, " sarx" 
(flesh, imperfection), and " deos" (fear, terror, apprehension) ; 
and, then, according to its etymology, it means "terror of the flesh," 
and indicates that this church is afraid of persecution and death. 
This letter synchronizes with the sixth trumpet, and contains the 
incursions of the Turks, the destruction of the Greek churches, 
and the taking of Constantinople in 1453. 

At the reading of this letter, we feel pained, and we have a just 
idea of the condition of the Church in the 14th and 15th centuries. 
During the preceding ages of the Church, though Christians were 
hidden among the Papists, as in a wilderness, like the seven thou- 
sand, who, in the time of Elijah, had not kneeled down before 
Baal, when Israel went astray, there were to be found men full of 
energy and Christian life, to contend for true Christianity, and to 
oppose the overwhelming papal heresies and idolatry. 

When the Bishop of Home attempted, at first, to usurp the title 
of universal bishop, all the churches opposed his usurpation ; the 
sword of Charlemagne was required to impose the Latin liturgy upon 
the churches of France, Germany, and Italy. A crowd of athletic 
champions arose to oppose tran substantiation, as soon as the 
monster appeared. All the German churches protested against 



COMMENTARY. 43 

celibacy, and many dared even to proclaim that the popes were 
Antichrist. But in these centuries, the ignorance and degradation 
of mankind are at their worst. Superstition or the terror of 
tortures has enchained the voice of men. All the clergy, monks 
and priests, are prostituted to lewdness, the fruit of celibacy, and 
the popes hold undisputedly the universal sceptre. Nevertheless, 
in the midst of the general corruption, there are yet some few 
learned men, as Gerson, president of the faculty of Paris, and some 
others, who seemed to have preserved a Christian life and faith in 
its purity ; but the most of them had but a vain piety ; and their 
science in divinity was but the pedant jargon of the school of Plato. 
When these men saw even three popes contending, at the same 
time, for popedom, as wild beasts for their prey, they asked with 
loud cries the reformation of the Church in her chief and members. 
It was for that object that the Council of Constance was held, in 
1414. But if they had courage enough to depose John XXIL, as 
a heretic, an adulterer, and a murderer, they had the baseness — 
Gerson himself — to condemn John Huss and Jerome of Prague to 
be burnt at the stake. It is to be noted that Gerson, having 
witnessed the faith, virtue, and holy eloquence of these martyrs, left 
his public office and passed the remainder of his life in retirement, 
when he probably wrote the book of the imitation of Jesus Christ. 
Had these men had living faith in the Council of Constance,* 
they could have delivered the people from the papal bondage. For 
Philip the Fair of France, by putting the Pope, Boniface VIIL, 
into prison, had dreadfully wounded papacy, which was cast, then, 
into a bed for some days (2 : 22), as a sick person ; and their 
schisms and mutual excommunications, as well as their crimes, had 
begun to open the eyes of the people. But they did not get any- 
thing by the circumstances, for "they had a name that they lived, 
and were dead." 

1. Jesus Christ takes the title of " he who hath the seven 
Spirits of God, and the seven stars," as in the first chapter, to show 
that he is the dispensator of the gifts of the same Spirit, which is 
manifested more or less, according to the aptitude of the seven 
angels or pastors of the churches. As there are seven churches, 
directed by seven angels, it maybe said that there are seven spirits 
to show, the special dispensation of the same Spirit to every minis- 
ter and every church. As Jesus knows the works of the ministers 
of this period, he declares that they are dead, though they were 

* According to Helvidius, this council was composed of the emperor, of 
4 patriarchs, 29 cardinals, 346 prelates, 564 abbots and doctors, 16,000 
secular princes and noblemen, 4500 prostitutes, 600 barbers, and 320 musi- 
cians and mountebanks. 



44 COMMENTARY. 

looked upon as learned divines. Their writings were deprived of 
the unction of grace ; for the witnesses had power to shut heaven, 
that it rained not in the days of their prophecy (11 : 6) ; and being- 
dead in faith, they could not receive the heavenly dew to impart a 
true knowledge of Christianity. Therefore he invites them to be 
watchful, and to strengthen the things which remain, that is, the 
little faith which is ready to die, in their hearts, divided between 
God and man, or to strengthen the rest of Christians, who have 
escaped from the destruction of the Albigenses, and of the Mora- 
vian churches. 

2. They must " remember how they have received and heard, 
and hold fast, and repent." They must render an account of the 
talents, which they have received, and again, they must remember 
how they have heard. — But what have they heard ? Does not the 
Holy Ghost remind here these men, who were representatives of the 
Church, at the Council of Constance, how they were many times 
astonished by the discourses, full of the Spirit of God, of John 
Huss and Jerome of Prague ? They heard these servants of Christ, 
describing the corruption of the clergy, and standing with heroism 
for the purity of the Christian faith, without being frightened by 
the terrors of death. They wondered at the faith, virtue, faithful- 
ness, and courage of these martyrs; but, instead of imitating their 
faithfulness and virtue, they flattered them to obtain from them a 
shameful apostacy. They repented not. They condemned to be 
burnt at the stake these two faithful defenders of the expiring faith 
in the Lord. But the Lord came soon upon them, as a thief, to 
avenge the blood of his servants. John Huss and his friend 
Jerome of Prague were looked upon as saints even by Catholics. 
John Trocznow, surnamed Ziska, was the instrument with which 
the Lord punished the crimes of the persecutors of the Church in 
Sardis. He destroyed, during frve years, all the powerful armies, 
which the Emperor of Germany and the Pope could enroll in the 
papal kingdoms, to sustain the anathemas, which heretic Bohemia 
rejected with contempt. After having defeated, with glory, during 
twelve years, all the armies of the Emperor and of the Pope, with 
iron flails for arms, the deputies of Bohemia entered triumphantly 
into the Council of Basle, with swords in hands, in the midst of a 
multitude wondering at their heroism. They obtained from that 
Council the permission of reading the Scriptures and continuing 
the use of the cup in the communion of the Lord's Supper. 

3. The few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their 
garments, are the scattered remainders of the Albigenses, the 
Waldenses, in their mountains, the disciples of Wickliffe, Cobham, 
in England, Paul Craw, in Scotland, John Huss, Jerome of Prague, 



COMMENTARY. 45 

and their followers in Bohemia and Moravia. They shall walk 
with the Lord in white raiments, "for they are worthy." The 
white garments are the emblem of holiness, and of the adoption of 
sons of God. They are garments of honor and glory in heaven 
(7 : 13-15). These servants have not denied the Lord before men, 
therefore Jesus will not deny them before his Father, and he will 
not blot their names out of the book of life. Let worldly men 
strive, if they wish, to have their names inscribed on the marble of 
pompous edifices, or at the head of difficult enterprises and glorious 
deeds, for me, son of God, my only ambition shall be henceforth 
that my name should be written in thy book of life. 



VI. Letter to the Church in Philadelphia, a type of the Reformation in 1517 to 
1688, when England became Protestant, after the destruction of the two ivit 
nesses at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 

V. 7-13. " And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These 
things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he 
that openeth, and no man shutteth • and shutteth and no man openeth ; I 
know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man 
can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast 
not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, 
which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie ; behold, I will make them 
to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 

"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee 
from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try 
them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast 
which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I 
make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out : and I 
will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my 
God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my 
God : and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let 
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 

The name of Philadelphia, composed of two . Greek words, 
u philos" (friend), and " adelphos" (brother, equal), signifies " bro- 
therly love/' and represents the state of the Church from the Re- 
formation to the reign of the Prince of Orange, King of England, 
in 1688, when he proclaimed Protestantism the religion of his 
kingdom, and checked all persecution against Protestantism. It 
synchronizes with the Reformation in the tenth chapter, with its 
progress in the fourteenth chapter, verses 1-18, and the slaying of 
the witnesses in the eleventh, verses 1-14. 

1. Let us remember that the Bishop of Rome, since his apostacy, 
has seated himself in the temple of God, as vicar of Jesus Christ, or 



46 COMMENTARY. 

God on the earth; that he has ordered that he should be called the 
"Holy Father — Holiness;" that he has been proclaimed " infalli- 
ble/ 7 or true ; that, by the power of the keys of Saint Peter, he opened 
or shut heaven — canonizing his idolatrous subjects, and sending to 
hell the heretics; that he placed the people and kingdoms, rivers 
and beasts, under the protection of his saints and saintesses. Let 
us remember all these things, and we shall understand why Jesus 
Christ entitles himself "he that is holy, he that is true, he that 
hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and 
shutteth and no man openeth." Is it not the Master who comes 
and strips the usurper of his titles ? Thou sayest, pope, that 
thou art holy — it is I who am holy ; that thou art infallible — it is 
I who am true and my word ; that thou hast the key of the son of 
David, of his eternal kingdom — it is I who have it. If, as an un- 
faithful servant during the absence of his master, thou couldst 
impose upon men and tell them that thou art the master of the 
house, and open the door to a murderer Dominic and to thy vile 
and idolatrous flatterers, and shut it to my servants, who protested 
against thy criminal usurpations and idolatry, there is appeal from 
thy judgment ; for it is I that open and no man shutteth, and that 
shut and no man openeth ; for it is by the seed of Abraham, the son 
of David, that all the nations of the earth should be blessed and 
saved. 

2. The Lord knows the works of his Church ; he knows with 
what intrepidity the Hussites fought in Bohemia to keep his word; 
how the rest of the Albigenses forsook all, to keep his name and his 
commandments ; how the Waldenses and Lollards, surrounded with 
cruel enemies, wished for better days, and the Lord will set before 
them an open door — the Reformation — and no man, king or pope, 
can shut it. For they have but a little strength. The rest of the 
Albigenses, being scattered in the woods, they could not stand 
against their powerful enemies. The Hussites were exhausted by 
a long war of nearly twenty years ; their pastors had been burnt at 
the stake, and the others were obliged to study the art of war instead 
of studying the word of God ; but notwithstanding all, they had 
kept his word, and had not denied his name. Therefore, the Lord, 
merciful unto them, will open a door, to escape from their enemies, 
and give them fellow-Christians. But how shall it be done ? 
Listen ! 

3. "'Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan 
(Papists), which say they are Jews (the people of God, his true 
church) and are not, but lie ; behold, I will make them to come 
and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." 
There is some mystery in these words of our Lord ; for he repeats 



COMMENTARY. 47 

many times the word "behold," to render us attentive. Are not 
those of the synagogue of Satan the same men whom we have seen 
seduced by the woman Jezebel, in the letter to the Church of Per- 
gamos, where Satan's seat is, and where Antipas was slain ? They 
are the same persons, the Papists, whom the Lord will draw with 
the chains of his love to worship at the feet of his faithful servants, 
the rest of his Church, to whom he will give more strength. They 
shall learn at their feet, as Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, to worship 
and serve God in spirit and truth; they shall have the same 
faith, the same worship, and the same Lord. They shall know 
that the Lord has loved these long-persecuted servants, who have 
been sealed to keep his word, and to inherit his eternal kingdom. 
Papists say that they are Christians, the true Church of God ; but 
they are not, they lie : They are the synagogue of Satan. 

4. " Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also 
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon ail 
the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Compare this 
verse with 7 : 9-17 ; 11 : 7-14; 14 : 12-13, and you will under- 
stand that these passages synchronize one with the other, and point 
out the great persecution of Louis XIV., when the two witnesses 
were slain, as it shall be proved hereafter. They were tempted, 
being forced by torments to submit to the Roman Church, to confess, 
and go to mass, or to be ruined and destroyed by the dragoonings, 
or armies of dragoons. 

As soon as the Reformation was proclaimed, the pope and the 
kings, his vassals, tried to put it down. But it was in vain ; for it 
was the Lord who had set this open door before his Church, and no 
man could shut it. Then the woman Jezebel said unto her king : 
" Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel ? Arise, and eat 
bread, and let thine heart be merry ; I will give thee the vineyard 
of Naboth the Jezreelite" (1 Kings 21 : 7). She wrote letters to 
the governors of the kingdom, and poor Naboth was slain. They 
celebrated a feast-day, called in the annals of history " St. Bar- 
tholomew's Massacre," in which eighty thousand Protestants were 
massacred, in 1572. But this was not yet the hour of tempta- 
tion; nor was it, when, in 1641, two hundred thousand Protestants 
were slaughtered in Ireland by Papists. It was at the revocation 
of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV., when about five millions of 
Protestants were obliged either to leave France, or to turn Papists, 
or to die. They chose rather to abandon France, or to die, and no 
man could take their crown. Persecution was raging, at the same 
time, among the Waldenses ; and James II. of England was also 
prepared to destroy Protestantism in his kingdom. (See the death 
of the witnesses, 11 : 7-14.) 



48 COMMENTARY. 

The Lord had promised to come quickly to relieve them. He 
had endowed a young hero with his most precious gifts ) he had 
nourished him from childhood, with the milk of his word ; he 
had saved him from the slaughter of St. Bartholomew's Day, in 
order that he should be the avenger of the blood of his brethren. 
Henry IV., with fifteen hundred men and the protection of God, 
came, besieged, and desolated by the most fearful famine, the city 
which had shed the blood of the saints ; but he was unfaithful to 
his mission, and for the reward of his apostacy, he fell by the 
dagger of the Lord's enemies. Louis XIV. had pronounced that 
Protestantism was at an end; but a greater than the great Louis 
XIV. told them " Come up hither V and they ascended up to the 
throne of England, before their enemies, to show, as by the Dioclesian 
Persecution, which was followed by the destruction of paganism, 
that, notwithstanding the savage persecutions of men, the Lord will 
bring forth out of persecutions the triumph of his Church over her 
enemies. 

5. u Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of 
my God, and he shall go no more out ; and I will write upon him 
the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which 
is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my 
God ; and I will write upon him my new name." Who overcame 
popery ? Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Zuingle, and all their fol- 
lowers. Have they been made pillars in the Reformation ? It is 
in vain that they have been slandered and cursed by popery ) their 
memory has come to us brighter and brighter. The name of God 
is written upon them. Popery could blot out the teachings of the 
apostles, and set up idolatry over the ruins of Christianity, as it 
had been taught by the apostles ; but it shall not be the same with 
the Reformation and its authors. The Lord will seal them with 
his name, and acknowledge " Protestantism' ' for the bride of the 
Lamb, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven ; for it is 
built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. " I will 
write upon him the name of the city of my God, and my new 
name •" I will sanction and ratify the work of the Reformers ; I 
will write my new name " Protestant" upon them, and upon their 
work ; I acknowledge them as my apostles, to be pillars of my 
Church; and their reformed religion for the new Jerusalem, instead 
of Catholicism corrupted by popery, which I have spewed out of my 
mouth. Therefore we see evidently that Jesus, the angel of the 
Reformation (10 : 1), ratifies here the work of the Reformers, and 
acknowledges them to be, as the apostles, entitled to build up his 
Church upon the old foundation. And, if men refuse them the 
name of Christians, and call them " Protestants/' and their religion 



COMMENTARY. 49 

^Protestantism," the Lord adopts these new names, and seals them 
with his own name, declaring that the former Christianity, esta- 
blished by the apostles, having been corrupted by popish errors 
and superstitions, he adopts Protestantism for the new Jerusalem, 
as she came clown at first from heaven, from God ; and she shall be 
acknowledged publicly for the Lamb's wife, in the great day of the 
destruction of his enemies (19 : 7-9), which is the marriage supper 
of the Lamb. 



VII. — Letter to the Church of the LaGdiccans, a type of the state of the Church 
from 1GS8 to the coming of the Lord, and the Millennium. 

V. 14-22. " And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write : 
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of 
the creation of God ; I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot : 
I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and 
neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, 
I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest 
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind ; I counsel 
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich ; and white 
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness 
do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. 
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten : be zealous, therefore, and repent. 

rt Behold, I stand at the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, and 
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I 
also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that 
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches/' 

The name " Laodicea" is composed of two Greek words, " laos" 
(people), and l( dike" (judgment, sentence), and means therefore 
" the judgment of the people." This period of the churches is 
thus called, because, at the end of this age, the people shall be in 
the hands of God, the instrumentality made use of to destroy great 
Babylon (17 : 16, 17 \ Dan. 7 : 26). This period synchronizes with 
the seventh trumpet, which contains the seven vials of the wrath 
of God, represented, the six first, under the emblem of harvest, and 
the last, under that' of vintage (11 : 15-19; 14 : 9-20; 16 : 1-21; 
18 and 19), which are the scourges by which the enemies of the 
churches shall be destroyed. 

1. Jesus Christ takes here the title of " the Amen, the faithful 
and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God," because 
he is the long expectation of Israel, the chiefest among ten thou- 
sand, and the pearl of great price, which we should buy with all 
we have. He is the faithful and true witness, because he know^ 
the will of the Father, and his word is true and immutable. He 



50 COMMENTARY. 

is the beginning of the creation of God, the first born, to whom all 
the blessings belong. Therefore, we must receive the testimony, 
which he has given us, in his word, and we ought not to be tossed 
about as children in the faith : we must trust in him ; for he is our 
God, our righteousness, wisdom, sanctiflcation, and redemption. If 
his testimony be certain, and his promises sure ; if he be, indeed, 
our God, our Redeemer, and our hope of happiness and glory, our 
lukewarmness and indifference are unpardonable sins. Our religion 
is either true or false ; if it is true, it is our most precious treasure ; 
if it is false, it is the most audacious imposture; and, then, we must 
stand for or against its author. He that is slothful in his work is 
brother to him that is a great Master. If worldly men are cold for 
religion, they are consequent with their principles; and Jesus de- 
clares that their condition is better than that of lukewarm and in- 
different professors of his religion. 

2. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot." The 
distinctive character of this age of the Church is lukewarmness. 
The languor of the Protestant churches, since persecution has 
ceased, is known to everybody. Hence the Socinians, Universal- 
ists, Unitarians, and the Puseyites, spewed out of the mouth of the 
Lord, came out of these lukewarm churches. These churches did 
nothing, during the eighteenth century, either to enlighten the un- 
fortunate victims of popery, or to carry the gospel into pagan coun- 
tries. It was but in the beginning of this century that some few 
Christians, awakened from their slumber, formed the Bible 
Society in England; and soon after, the Missionary Societies. And 
yet how many churches and pastors look upon that work with in- 
difference, not to say, with hostility. 

This lukewarmness is grounded upon a false presumption, enter- 
taining high thoughts about themselves and their privileges, with- 
out respect to their obligations, and responsibility. They have the 
word of God; they enjoy the liberty of worship ; they are not trou- 
bled with persecutions; the ministers are paid like public officers ; 
why should they raise difficulties on their way ? Why should they 
go to preach the word of God to the Papists or to heathens ? 
" They are rich, and increased with goods," not by their own works, 
but by those of their noble ancestors; and, because they do not 
worship images, and are not deceived by the priestly quackery, and 
enjoy the favors of men, they suppose that they have need of 
nothing. But Jesus, the true witness, declares that they are 
"wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" — 
wretched and miserable, because they do not know their true con- 
dition, which is worse than that of worldly men and great sinners — 
poor, because they have no provision for their soul, being full of 



COMMENTARY. 51 

presumption, and of that sufficiency, which gives the Pharisaic 
spirit ) blind and naked, because they do not consult the word of 
God to see their poverty and nakedness. " I would thou wert cold 
or hot : so then because thou art lukewarm, I will spew thee out of 
my mouth. " 

3. The word "mouth of God" represents the religion of God, as 
the "mouth of the serpent" (12:15), represents "idolatry, 
paganism/' the religion of the devil. Therefore, as lukewarm 
water provokes vomiting, lukewarmness in a Christian provokes 
the heart of Jesus, and he will cast him out of his Church. They 
are not the Socinians themselves, neither the Universalis ts, nor the 
Puseyites, who abandon Protestantism : it is Jesus, who spews them 
out of his mouth. They suppose that they are rich, learned, full of 
knowledge, merits, and the Lord abandons them to their Satanic 
illusions, and spews them out of his Church. No other cause can 
be imagined to- account for the apostacy of a man, enjoying his un- 
derstanding, being acquainted with the word of God, and with the 
crimes of popery, and professing to believe in the divine authority 
of the Bible. The Lord, who knows the condition of their hearts 
and thoughts, invites them to buy from him gold tried in the fire 
(the righteousness of the cross, Is. 55 : 1-3), that they may be 
rich ) and white raiment (emblem of holiness), washed in the blood 
of the Lamb (7 : 13-17); and to anoint their eyes with eye-salve 
(medicament to cure the inflammation of the eyes), that they may 
see their poor condition, and submit themselves, as little children, 
to the teachings of his word, and to the agency of the Holy Ghost, 
who will open their eyes and give them the true riches, righteous- 
ness and holiness, without which no man can see the Lord. 

4. " As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten : be zealous there- 
fore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock/' The 
Lord loves Protestants, because their ancestors suffered persecution 
for his word, and his name's sake. But he cannot bear with their 
lukewarmness; therefore he rebukes them. They want repen- 
tance, and they should have more zeal for the salvation of their 
fellow-men, to whom mercenary shepherds say: " Peace, peace ! and 
there is no peace/ 5 " Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any 
one hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him, and he with me." Behold, the signs of the times ! 
Behold, the kingdoms of the world are shaken. Here is the time 
when he will take possession of his everlasting kingdom : he ad- 
dresses them an appeal ; will they come and take a part in his great 
work? Behold! examine, and learn what are the signs of the 
times ! Do you not see that I stand at the door and knock ? Do 
you not see the storm ready to burst over the old Europe ? If any 



52 CO M M E N T A R Y. 

one hear my voice, and open the door, I will sup with him, and he 
with me, as two friends at the same table — he shall be admitted to 
the marriage supper of the Lamb, for his wife hath made herself 
ready (19 : 7-9), and to the marriage of the king's son j but he 
ought to have on the wedding garment (Matt. 22 : 1-14), and oil 
in his lamp. It is evident that these words, " I stand at the door 
and knock," "I will sup with him and he with me," synchronize 
with the nineteenth chapter, in which the enemies of the Lord are 
destroyed, and his eternal kingdom set up on the ruin of the king- 
doms of this world, which ruin is called the marriage supper of the 
Lamb (19 : 7-9), because in that great day, he acknowledges 
publicly his long-persecuted Church as his bride. 

5. " To him that overcome th will I grant to sit with me in my 
throne." The reward, promised here, proves also evidently that the 
Lord is at the eve of taking possession of his kingdom. For that 
reason, he invites his disciples to fight with him, in order that they 
should triumph with him and sit with him in his throne. Compare 
these texts with the fifteenth verse of the sixteenth chapter, and from 
the sixth to the twenty-first verse of the nineteenth chapter, in 
which the battle of Armageddon is described under the name of 
vintage, and you will be convinced that all these passages synchro- 
nize, and consequently that the letters are types of seven different 
ages of the Church, as the admonition, repeated at the end of every 
letter intimates it : " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches. " This explanation agrees with his- 
tory, and presents a perfect picture of all the events, which shall 
be more fully developed in the course of the prophecy, of which it 
is like an exordium. There is, therefore, no other consistent expo- 
sition to be given of these letters. * 

* In reference to the present condition of these cities of Asia Minor, 
it is said, in a letter of Irenseus, from the East, New York Observer, March 
2, 1854:— 

t: The scholar is interested in Smyrna (which possesses 150,000 inhabitants) 
as the reputed birthplace of Homer, — this being one of those of which it is 
said : — 

'Seven cities claimed the Homer dead. 
Through which the living Homer begged his bread.' 

The ancients celebrated it under the names of The Lovely, the Crown of 
Ionia, the Ornament of Asia, and perhaps we should have admired it more, 
had we not recently come from the Bosphorus, where nature has done more 
to beautify the site of a town than in any other region which I have yet 
seen, in any part of the world. But the chief interest in Smyrna, which the 
Christian traveller finds, is in the fact, that here was one of the seven 
churches of Asia, of which mention is made by St. John in the Apocalypse, 



C M M ENTARY. Ob 

And now, before showing us, under emblems and images, the 
events which shall come to pass in the seven periods of the Church, 
which have been delineated in the picture of the seven churches, 
the prophet introduces us to the foot of the throne of Jehovah, 
holding, in his right hand, the book in which these events are 
contained. Jesus comes and takes the book out of his right hand, 
to open it and to loose its seals, intimating that it is God the 
Father who holds the series of all events, and that Jesus overrules 
them by his invisible power, until his enemies shall be subdued, 
and his kingdom set up on the ruins of the kingdoms of this 
world. 

the others being in the same region, and accessible by journeys of a few 
successive hours. Ephesus, where John resided, is only twelve hours off, and 
near the coast, but the ruins of the great temple of Diana of the Ephesians, 
one of the seven wonders of the w T orld, are no longer to be seen : even the 
site is not to be pointed out. It was burnt by an incendiary who wished to 
make his name immortal in connection with the ruin of such a temple. 
The wild beast prowls now, where once was the most splendid edifice of 
its time on the face of the earth. Laodicea, another of the seven, is now 
deserted, though the ruins of temples and theatres plainly mark the site. 
Philadelphia has three thousand houses and is the residence of the Greek 
bishop. Sardis consists of a few shepherd's huts, and a mill on the river 
Pactolus, where golden sands w T ere once so famed. Thyatira is full of 
ruins; the mouths of the w r ells are made of the capitals of beautiful columns, 
and the streets in many parts are paved with fragments of carved stone, 
relics of the ancient city. Pergamos is a magnificent tomb of former great- 
ness ; arches half buried, and columns in the sand, are the mournful memo- 
rials of the place, where the faithful martyr Antipas suffered, and where 
Satan's seat was when the Apostle John wrote his letters to the seven 
churches. Smyrna is the only one of the seven cities that continues to be a 
place of importance. And even Smyrna of the present is not on the site of 
the former. It is hard to make it a fact, that time can work such changes, 
so that places which knew these vast cities know them no more. Open to 
the second and third chapters of the Revelation, and read the prophecy and 
warning there uttered, and observe the wonderful fulfilment of every word. 
All this eastern world abounds in lessons of light and instruction on the 
pages of sacred truth, and every day of travel among the islands of the 
Archipelago, or the cities of Asia Minor, invests those pages with a reality 
that they never possessed before. All this is more than classic, it is hal- 
lowed scenery." 



5* 



54 COMMENTARY. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE THRONE OF GOD AND HIS HEAVENLY COURT. 

V. 1-5. "After this I looked, and behold, a dqor ivas opened in heaven : 
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with 
me ; which said, Come up hither, and I will show the things which must be 
hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit ; and, behold, a throne was 
set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon 
like a jasper and a sardine stone : and there was a rainbow round about the 
throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four- 
and-twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four-and-twenty elders sitting, 
clothed in white raiment ; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And 
out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices : and there 
were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven 
spirits of God." 

We are witnessing, in the fourth and fifth chapter, with what 
solemn majesty all things are performed in the court of the great 
king, the Lord of lords, how millions of saints and angels surround 
the throne and give equal praises and glory to the Father and the 
Son, that liveth for ever and ever (Is. 6 : 1-12; Dan. 7 : 9-10). 

1. " A door was opened in heaven. " The knowledge of future 
events belongs to God alone : though they have been decreed from 
eternity, and written as it were, in a book, they are hidden from 
our eyes. We cannot search out the eternal purpose of God, 
unless he is willing to open the door of heaven, and permit his ser- 
vants to have a glimpse of the things which shall come to pass 
hereafter. We have already been permitted to contemplate, under 
the symbols of seven letters, the picture of seven different states of 
his Church, either oppressed by her persecutors, or seduced by the 
woman Jezebel to commit a spiritual fornication and to sacrifice to 
idols. Now, the same voice of the Son of Man, which was like the 
sound of a trumpet, because he was to reveal to his prophet 
scourges, which shall be heard of at a great distance, said unto 
him : " Come up hither, and I will show the things which must be 
hereafter." 

2. "And immediately I was in the Spirit;" that is, his spirit 
was set free from the body (1 : 10; Ez. 8 : 1-4); he was in a close 
communion with God, through the powerful agency of the Holy 
Ghost, and he became insensible to all the terrestrial objects by 
which he was surrounded. " And, behold, a throne was set in 
heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he 'that sat was to look 



COMMENTARY. 55 

upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow 
round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." 

These precious stones, jasper and sardine, of a purple and trans- 
parent color, are the emblems of the perfections of God, who is 
like a consuming fire for unrepentant sinners. But there is a rain- 
bow round about the throne, which is the sign of his covenant with 
Noah, to remind us that in wrath he remembers mercy, and that 
we can come, at all times, to his throne of grace, notwithstanding 
our sinful condition, in the name of Jesus, the angel of his cove- 
nant, of which the rainbow is the emblem. The twenty-four elders, 
sitting around the throne, are the patriarchs and the apostles, the 
representatives of the triumphant church of the ancient and of the 
new covenant. The white raiment, with which they are clothed, 
is the emblem of the righteousness and holiness of Jesus imputed 
to them (7 : 13, 14) ; and the crowns of gold, which they have on 
their heads, are the signs of their victory over the prince of this 
world, and the emblems of their kingly priesthood at the throne of 
God (2 Tim. 4 : 7-8). 

3. " And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunder- 
ings and voices." The lightnings and thunderings are the fore- 
runners of storms, and men understand very well their language. 
They are here the emblems of the dreadful judgments, by which 
God visits the sins of men, and their language is not often under- 
stood. History tells us of famine, pestilence, civil wars, defeat of 
powerful armies, and of the overthrow of kingdoms ; but it does not 
show us the invisible hand of God, which punishes the sins of 
nations, by those awful calamities. The prophet teaches us here 
that all those terrible events proceed from the throne of God ) that 
good and evil, the prosperity or the fall of empires, proceed from 
the same hand. For God reigneth ; the iniquity of the wicked is 
not hidden before his eyes, and the cries of the poor and of the op- 
pressed are heard at his throne. The seven lamps of fire burning 
before the throne, are, as it is said, " the seven spirits of God," or 
the same Spirit, manifested, in a special manner, during the seven 
ages of the Church. The prophet Zechariah. (4 : 10) says that they 
are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole 
earth. Therefore there is no darkness, no secret places before 
him : the storm closely follows the sin committed either under the 
cover of the night, or in the inmost recess of the forests. 

V. 6-8. " And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal : 
and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts 
full of eyes before and behind. And the first was like a lion, and the second 
beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth 
beast was like a flying eagle And the four beasts had each of them six 



56 COMMENTARY. 

wings about him ; and they were full of ©yes within : and they rest not day or 
night, saying, holy, Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and 
is to come/' 

1. " And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto 
crystal." It may be said that this sea of glass, figured by the 
molten sea, wherein the priests were obliged to wash themselves, 
lest they die, before entering into the holy place appointed to offer 
sacrifices to God, is the emblem of the grace and of the blood 
of Jesus Christ, in which we ought to be washed to have a free 
access to the throne of God. It is like unto crystal, to show that 
the righteousness of Christ, imputed to his redeemed people, is 
perfect, pure, and spotless. But it is rather the emblem of the 
kingdoms of this world (15 : 1-3), represented as a sea, for the 
commotions by which they are overturned, and out of which others 
rise (Dan. 7 : 2-8). They are like " a sea of glass, like unto crys- 
tal," to show their brittleness, like potter's vessels, and to indicate 
that God is acquainted with their deeds and perverse policy, which 
he sees as through a glass. The second verse of the fifteenth chapter 
shows evidently that such is the meaning of this emblem ; for, at 
the time of the pouring out of the vials of the wrath of God, the 
prophet saw " as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire" (the fire 
of wars), and those who had obtained the victory over either pagan 
or papal Home " stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God," 
and singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song 
of the Lamb. The song of Moses (Ex. 15 : 1-19), reminds us, by 
this sea of glass, of the Hed Sea, in which Pharaoh and his army 
perished, while the people of God escaped and praised the Lord for 
their deliverance. In the same manner, the new Pharaohs, who 
have held in bondage the people of the Lord, shall perish in this 
sea mingled with fire, whilst the redeemed, who shall have gotten 
victory over paganism and popery, shall escape and praise the Lord 
for their deliverance. 

2. " And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, 
were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first was 
like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had 
a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle." 
The Roman Church thinks, without any foundation, that these four 
beasts are the emblems of the four evangelists. It is supposed, 
from the office which they hold (5 : 8), that they are the emblems 
of the true ministers of the gospel; but they are rather the 
emblems of the militant Church ; for all Christians, without dis- 
tinction, are kings and priests unto God. But how is it that they 
are represented under the emblems of four beasts ? It is in the 
same manner as the four great monarchies, from Nebuchadnezzar 



COMMENTARY. 57 

to our days, are represented and characterized by four beasts, the 
first a lion, the second a bear, the third a leopard, and the fourth, 
diverse from the other, had no name ; but had an eagle on its stan- 
dards (.Dan. 7 : 1-8). The first, being an animal strong and 
generous, is preserved to be the emblem of the courage and gene- 
rosity of Christians. But the others, the bear and the leopard, 
being wild beasts, could not be in any wise the emblems of the 
people of God. The Spirit of God has substituted in their place 
some other emblems more congenial to' the characters of Christians, 
as the "calf/' which is the emblem of an unwearied zeal and pa- 
tience, and "man," as the emblem of reason, understanding, and 
wisdom ; and the eagle, as that of the elevation of their feelings, 
thoughts, and affections, raising up their minds to heavenly things, 
and looking at the most adorable mysteries, as the eagle looks at 
the beams of the sun. They had each of them six wings about 
him ; the wings are the emblems of their disinterestedness, protec- 
tion, grace, and charity. The prophet Isaiah, who calls the same 
beasts "seraphs," that is, burning, to indicate the nature of their 
zeal, says that they " covered their faces with twain" of their 
wings, for unto us belongs the confusion of faces before the Lord; 
"and with twain they covered their feet;" for the walks and deeds 
of the saints are not without spot before the Lord ; " and with twain 
they did fly," showing that it is upon the wings of grace and mercy 
that they were permitted to ascend to heaven (Is. 6:2). The 
prophet Ezekiei calls them " cherubs," which means husbandmen, 
to indicate their works and patience during the captivity of the 
people of God, in Babylon. These beasts or seraphs, are not 
angels ; for celestial spirits do not borrow strange forms in heaven ; 
and yet angels do not call themselves " the redeemed of the Lamb" 
(5 : 8-10). Though the cherubs are spoken of as having only 
four wings (Ez. 1 and 10), they are not different beings, as it may 
be seen by their description and office. They do not represent the 
militant church in heaven, but in a hard captivity ; therefore they 
do not cover their feet with wings. The Church of God, in Jeru- 
salem, had provoked the wrath of God, who was "over them as it 
were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a 
throne;" and so the Lord filled his hand with coals of fire (the 
emblem of his wrath), and scattered them over the city; and "then 
the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub," from the church 
(Ez. 10 : 1-4). The chariot and the wheels, in the first and tenth 
chapter, are nothing else than an allegory of the providence of God, 
showing the connection of the events with their causes, of our chas- 
tisements with our sins. The cherubs are said to have each the 
four faces of man, lion, ox, and eagle ; because each member of the 



58 COMMENTARY. 

militant Church, as member of the same body, is rendered partaker 
of all the gifts granted by the Holy Ghost to each individually, 
and of which the lion, man, calf, and eagle are the emblems. From 
one, they receive courage, from another patience, from others, wisdom 
and discernment, and from the fourth, clear ideas of the most awful 
mysteries ; so that each member, sharing thus in the gifts of his 
brothers, possesses for himself alone, all that which belongs to 
many ; and the dispensation of the providence of God toward his 
Church is conformed to their deeds and to the- improvement of the 
gifts imparted to them. It is in that sense that it is said of the 
two witnesses (11 : 5-6) that they have power to shut heaven that 
it rain not (prevent the effusion of grace), and to change water into 
blood (as Moses, to punish the hardened Pharaoh), and to send 
curses upon earth. Therefore, we infer that the seraphs and 
cherubs are the same as the beasts spoken of in this chapter. 

" They were full of eyes within/ ' to show that they possess a 
clear knowledge of their sinful nature ; watching upon themselves, 
and knowing the terror of the Lord. The book of past ages is 
opened before them ; they know that God overruled the events re r 
corded in history ; and from the knowledge of the past, they judge 
of the future. The secret of the Lord is with them ; and they 
walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise ; for they are full of 
eyes before and behind. They are in the midst of the throne, be- 
cause they are in communion with God, and speak in his name, 
preaching to sinners repentance and remission of sins, and eternal 
death, to unrepentant sinners ; they are around the throne, to plead 
with God for the reconciliation of sinners, and to offer up to him 
their prayers and requests, and praises and thanksgivings. And 
these four beasts, representing the militant Church, full of the 
knowledge of the word of God, of his judgments and mercies, "rest 
not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, 
which was, and is, and is to conie." 

V. 9-11. "And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks, to 
him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the four-and-twenty 
elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that 
liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 
{ Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou 
hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.'" 

There is joy in heaven, says our Lord, over one sinner that re- 
penteth ; so, when the four beasts, representing the living who are 
not yet glorified, and whose condition it is to work, to suffer, and 
fight to conquer (1 Cor. 7 : 46), render glory and honor and 
thanks to God, saying : " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty," 



COMMENTARY. 59 

the twenty-four elders, representatives of the triumphant Church, 
manifest their joy and gratitude, by failing clown upon their faces 
before the Almighty, casting their crowns before the throne, to 
testify that the glory of the conversion of sinners is due to him, as 
well as the glory and happiness enjoyed by his redeemed people in 
heaven ) and they say : " Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory 
and honor and power : for thou hast created all things, and for thy 
pleasure they are and were created." 



CHAPTER V. 

THE BOOK OF GOD, AND THE WORSHIP OF THE LAMB. 

V. 1-4. " And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a 
book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I 
saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open 
the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in 
earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look 
thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and 
to read the book, neither to look thereon." 

We are permitted to witness, in this chapter as in the preceding, 
how things are performed in the court of the great King of the 
universe, — how God the Father gives all power and authority to 
the Son of his love, — and how the saints and angels render equal 
praises and glory to Grod the Son, with God the Father. 

God the Father, sitting on his throne, holds, in his right hand, 
"a book written within and on the backside/' that is, written on 
both sides, to show that it contains a great many events. The books, 
called rolls among the ancients, because after their reading they 
were rolled up like maps or music books, consisted of several leaves 
united together and usually written only on one side. This book 
was sealed with seven seals, to show that it contained seven great 
events with their consequence, or rather all the important events, 
which shall come to pass during the seven ages of the Church, — 
that these events are known only to God — that neither men nor 
angels can search out his unsearchable decrees, and, again, that 
men shall not look at the hand of God, to understand the true 
cause of these scourges by which he visits their sins and idolatry. 

A strong angel invites with a loud voice, those, who should be 
able to open the book and to loose its seals, to come and take the 



60 COMMENTARY. 

book, to open it and loose its seals, that is, to understand its myste- 
rious symbols, and to overrule the events described under its em- 
blematic language. But there was no man, either among the saints 
in heaven, or among the living and the dead, who could find out 
its mysteries, or overrule the events which were contained in the 
book of God. And the prophet was sorrowful for that, and wept 
much. This book — thanks be rendered to the Lamb slain for our 
sins — passed from the hand of God the Father, into the hand of 
God the Son; and the Son, who is the friend of men, revealed its 
contents to his prophet. This book ! we possess it; we can read it; 
and know what are the secret events, which the eternal God had 
written and sealed with seven seals. 

V. 5-7. " And one of the elders saith unto me: Weep not: behold, the 
Lion of the tribe of Jnda, the Root of David, hast prevailed to open the book, 
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, Jo, in the midst of 
the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb 
as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven 
spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book 
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne." 

Weep not, says one of the elders to the prophet, Jesus, the angel 
of the covenant of God with men, to whom the will of God the 
Father is known from eternity, is worthy to open the book and to 
loose its seals. He has already prevailed over the powers of dark- 
ness to reconcile men with God, as the Lion of the tribe of Juda (Gen. 
49 : 9-10), and having been faithful in all things unto the death 
of the cross, he has received a name, which is above all names ; 
he is then worthy to take the book and to overrule the events, by 
which the ruin of his enemies ought to be accomplished, and the 
final triumph of his Church secured. 

The prophet looked unto the throne, and he saw the Saviour ; 
not under the form of a terrible lion — for he is terrible only for his 
enemies — but under the form of a " Lamb as it had been slain" (see 
xii chap, of Ex.). Mark the place which he occupies in heaven. 
He stands in the midst of the throne, as Mediator between God 
and the representatives of his militant and of the triumphant Church, 
as the King and Captain of their salvation. He is there as a 
" Lamb slain ;" for he is the High Priest of his people, and the 
victim offered up from before the foundation of the world, to take 
away the sin of the world, and reconcile sinners with God. He 
had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the emblems of his 
almighty power and science, to open the book and overrule the 
events written in it, during the seven ages of the Church. He 
came, then, and took the book out of the hand of God; therefore, 



COMMENTARY. 61 

he it is who governs this world, who raises up or abases according 
to his will ; for all power was given unto him in earth and in 
heaven, and he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under 
his feet (1 Cor. 15 : 24-28). 

V. 8-10. " And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and 
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, 
and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they 
sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the 
seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, 
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and hast made us 
unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." 

In reading this heavenly song we are reminded of these words of 
the Apostle, " And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, 
and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth f and we are constrained involun- 
tarily to bend our knees before this Son of God, who took upon him 
our humanity, as a veil, to dwell among us, to teach us and die for 
us. Nothing can equal the simplicity and beauty of this heavenly 
song unto the glory of the Lamb, which the representatives of the 
Church sing and accompany on their harps, the emblem of praises, 
as the vials full of odors are the emblem of the prayers of saints. 

As soon as he had taken the book, the four beasts, representa- 
tives of the militant Church (thus represented because her members 
have not yet put on incorruption and immortality; 1 Cor. 15 : 40- 
46), and the twenty-four elders, the representatives of the trium- 
phant Church, fell down before the Lamb, to worship him; and 
they sang a new song, unknown to the Jewish church, which sang 
the glory and praises of Jehovah, and to the infidels and to the 
heathens, saying, " Thou art worthy to take the book and to open 
the seals' thereof ; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God 
by thy blood, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, 
and we shall reign over the earth. " Dost thou understand that, 
immortal soul ! The subject of the song of saints and angels, in 
heaven, is the redemption of mankind by the blood of Jesus ! Thou 
wert sold, as a slave, to Satan and sin, and Jesus has redeemed 
thee ; hear, at what a price, — by his blood ! He endured the tor- 
ments of death and hell in thy stead ; he broke the chains of thy 
captivity ; and when he ascended on high up to heaven, he led 
captivity captive, and received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious 
also. He made us kings and priests unto our God, and we shall 
reign on the earth (1 : 6). Behold to what dignity he has raised 
thee up ! 0, hold fast the profession of thy faith without waver- 
ing ! Do not tread under foot the Son of God, and do not count the 

6 



62 COMMENTARY. 

blood of the covenant, wherewith thou wert sanctified, an unholy 
thing, and beware to do despite unto the Spirit of grace. Look 
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, w T ith love and gra- 
titude, and unite thy songs with the concert of saints and millions 
of angels who sing his praises and glory. 

V. 11-14. "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round 
about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders : and the number of them 
was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ; saying 
with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and 
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And 
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, 
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, 
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb, forever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. 
And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that iiveth 
forever and ever." 

Millions of angels, who have always kept their former purity and 
obedience before God, share in the joy of the saints, and applaud 
the power and glory, which God the Father gives unto the Re- 
deemer, saying that he is worthy to receive power, and riches, and 
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing ; that he 
is worthy to receive all power from God to accomplish the triumph 
of his Church over her enemies ) and every creature which is in 
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are 
buried in the sea, and all that are in them, repeat their song as 
to unite in concert with the saints and angels and to ratify their re- 
quest and testify their consent, and to ascribe equal power and 
glory to the Lamb and to God the Father, saying " Blessing, and 
honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." 

Let this song of the saints in heaven and of millions of angels, 
repeated as in a concert by every creature on the earth, be compared 
with the sublime vision of Jesus in the first chapter, and with the 
titles of the Almighty, the eternal God, which he attributes to 
himself, and no one shall dare to deny that the crucified Jesus on 
Calvary, is truly the Son of God, the Redeemer of our fallen race. 
For it is to him that the saints and angels and all the earth unite 
to ascribe honor and glory, even before the throne of God, the 
Father. Had not the divinity of Jesus absorbed his humanity, 
which was but as a veil for him, this worship rendered to him by 
the saints and angels, before the Almighty God of heaven, would 
have been an act of the most daring idolatry. 

And now, my soul, since Jesus is thy God and Redeemer, 
let others place their ambition in searching out the most secret 



COMMENTARY. 63 

mysteries of sciences, bidden to the eyes of the common people ; 
for thee, redeemed soul, be satisfied henceforth to glory in his 
cross, and to study and search with the poor inhabitants of cottages, 
the history of Calvary, which is always ancient and always new ! 
Let others be ambitious of pompous titles, if they wish, a crown of 
thorns is enough for thee. If they boast of their riches and of the 
short enjoyment of happiness which they afford, thou hast the in- 
exhaustible riches of the tomb of Christ. Thy riches and glory 
and happiness are there. Reign, Son of God ! the Father has 
consecrated thee with his own hand on the Mount Sion ; and the 
inhabitants of heaven and earth applauded thy power and glory. 
Reign ! submit all the nations of the earth under thy power; let 
every one learn of thee that thy yoke is easy, and thy burden light ; 
and let all the ends of the earth acknowledge thy power and unite 
their voices to sing thy praises and glory, in the concert of the 
saints and angels. Amen. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SEVEN SEALS — CIVIL WARS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 

FAMINE — PESTILENCE PERSECUTIONS, AND FALL OF PA- 
GANISM. 

We have now to explain the emblems, under which the events 
recorded in history, are described in the book which the Lamb 
took out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. Many 
systems have been invented to explain this book ; and, when we 
read, at the end of Henry's exposition, an abridgment of the 
principal systems, invented by learned men to explain it, we are 
no more astonished that this prophecy has always been looked 
upon as inexplicable. True, they have found out the meaning of 
many emblems, but they have abandoned themselves to their 
imagination, — they have confounded the seals with the trumpets, 
— they have transferred from the beginning to the end, and from 
the end to the beginning, the emblems which were necessary to 
complete their systems." Mede and Newton suppose that the first 
four seals designate four epochs of the history of the last times of 
the Roman empire. Keith supposes that they represent respec- 
tively the four religious systems, Christianity, Mahometanism, 
Popery, and Infidelity. More has formed an apocalyptic plan ; he 



04 COMMENTARY. 

traced straight and curved lines, designated with letters and 
numbers, from one to six, and again from one to seven, and he 
pretends to arrive, by such geometrical problems, to the solution of 
the difficulties of this book. A plan of Denderah's zodiac has 
even been inserted there, doubtless, to find in its hieroglyphic 
symbols the explanation of the symbols of the Apocalypse. For 
us, let us put aside this great display of science, and above all, our 
imagination. Let us not look for a system; for there is none : it 
is history written under a figured language (1 : 1, 19); therefore, 
history alone ought to resolve all its difficulties. And when, in 
following step by step the picture of history, we shall find that the 
events recorded there, give us the solution of the corresponding 
emblems, as the original is found out by its image and picture, 
without forcing the explanation, without overturning the order 
followed by the prophet, in his emblematic language — and when 
we shall see that there is as much order and precision in this book 
as in the best and most exact historians, — we shall be permitted to 
say that this book is no more inexplicable. 



First Seal. 



V. 1, 2. "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I 
heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come 
and see. And I saw, and, behold, a white horse; and he that sat on him 
had a bow ; and a crown was given unto him : and he went forth conquer- 
ing, and to conquer." 

The bow, which is in the hands of this conqueror, is the emblem 
of wars, of scourges, and destruction ; and the crown, which was 
given unto him, is the emblem of royalty, of victory, and triumph. 
The white horse may indicate the justice and holiness of his cause, 
and the rapidity of his conquests. But who is this conqueror? 
and what are the conquests which he has to achieve? The read- 
ing of verses 11-16 of the nineteenth chapter, where we again find 
the same conqueror treading under foot the kings of the earth and 
the false prophet, and binding Satan with chains, shows us that he 
is called "the Word of God; the King of kings, and Lord of 
lords •" therefore, we may infer that this conqueror is Jesus Christ, 
and that the first seal, — the emblem of the progress and triumph 
of the gospel, — includes and overrules all the events described 
under the other seals, under the trumpets and vials of the wrath 
of God, to the entire ruin of the enemies of Christianity and the 
setting up of the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ (Dan. 2 : 44). 
For he goes forth conquering and to conquer; he has then to 



COMMENTARY. 65 

accomplish many victories and triumphs to make his enemies his 
footstool to his throne, to fill the places with dead bodies, and to 
wound the head (popery) over many countries (Ps. 110 : 6). All 
shall be accomplished at the pouring out of the seventh vial, in 
the battle of Armageddon (the mountain of destruction), called 
"the vintage" (14 : 18-20), and "the great day of the Lord" 
(16 : 14-16), described in the nineteenth chapter. 

The enemies of the word of God should have understood, from 
the progress of the gospel, that it was the work of God, that by 
opposing its progress, they were making war with God himself; 
but all that was sealed to their eyes, and they could not see, 
though some one of the representatives of the militant Church, 
figured by the beast, cried at all times, saying : " Come and see." 
Come and see how twelve unlearned men, poor and ignorant 
fishers, have spread the gospel throughout the world, — how they 
have triumphed over the oppositions and persecutions both of the 
Jews and of the Gentiles, — how this powerful word has changed 
the face of the earth, removed the darkness of idolatry, and spread 
everywhere the principles of civilization and liberty. Come and 
see how, through the torrents of blood, Christianity ascended to 
the throne of the Caesars, when its powerful enemies thought to 
have crushed and destroyed it forever, — how it triumphed during 
the Middle Age, over the crusades, and dungeons, and torments of 
the Inquisition, and ascended up to the throne of England, to go 
thence throughout the world, conquering and to conquer. Come 
and see ! Do you not know that it is the hand of the Almighty, 
which performs all these things ? Cease, then, to oppose his work. 
But all that was sealed before their eyes, and they could not see. 
Even at this day, the enemies of the word of God can see nothing, 
notwithstanding so many vain attempts to destroy it : they suppose 
that their predecessors have failed in their criminal contest with 
God, only for want of skill and craftiness. All these things are 
yet sealed for their blind and stubborn hearts; but, in spite of 
their stubbornness, the victories of Jesus go on, and his final 
triumph is at hand. 



Second Seal. 



V. 3, 4. " And when lie had opened the second seal, I heard the second 
beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red ; 
and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, 
and that they should kill one another : and there was given unto him a great 
sword." 

The emblem of this seal is easily understood. The red horse, 

6* 



66 COMMENTARY. 

a bloody color, represents the shedding of blood; therefore, the 
horseman has the power, 1. To banish peace from the earth; 2. 
To cause that men should kill one another, that is, to excite civil 
wars, in which the citizen fights against a citizen, and the brother 
slaughters his brother. The great sword, given to him, is also a 
clear emblem of the torrents of blood shed at that time ; 1. By the 
revolt of the Jews in 98 to 138 ; 2. By the civil wars of the 
Roman legions from 138 to the reign of Constantine, in 313 ; all 
these scourges, which desolated, by turns, the Roman Empire, are 
represented under the emblem of horsemen, to show with what 
rapidity they came to execute the revenge of the Lord. One of 
the beasts, a representative of the militant Church, says, "Come 
and see/' to invite us to examine attentively all these scourges 
that we are witnessing, and to know the unseen hand, which 
inflicts these awful chastisements. 

When the prophet wrote this vision, about 94, two persecutions 
against Christians had already been decreed : one under Nero, in 
65, and that of Domitian, by whom the prophet had been banished 
into the island of Patmos, in 93. The other persecutions suc- 
ceeded each other rapidly. The third took place in 107, under 
Trajan; the fourth, in 163, under Antoninus; the fifth, in 202, 
under Severus; the sixth, in 235, under Maximilian; the seventh, 
under Deeius, in 250, was the most cruel of all : Christians were 
expelled out of their houses, stripped of their property and ex- 
posed to the most savage tortures. The eighth, in 256, under 
Valerianus ; the ninth, in 273, under Aurelian ; and the tenth, 
under Diocletian, in 303, and continued ten years. 

It may be seen by this picture of pagan persecutions that Chris- 
tians did not enjoy much rest and peace. But the God, who 
reigns in heaven, and looks down upon his servants, did not give 
any more rest and peace to their persecutors. The atrocious 
cruelties of their emperors, Nero, Commodus, Domitian, Helio- 
gabalus, Caracalla, and others, were already, by themselves, a visible 
revenge of God to punish their persecutors. But yet there is not 
to be found, in the third century, which historians call " military 
anarchy," an epoch in which we do not read of some of the 
scourges, which desolated, by turns, the Roman Empire, and 
hastened its decay and ruin. If they stripped Christians of 
their property, the Lord overthrew the tyrants from their throne 
and sent famine to the people; if they delighted in shedding the 
blood of martyrs, the Lord gave them blood to drink; if they 
feasted upon their torments, God sent them pestilence, and wild 
beasts, and tyrants to devour them; and, from 98 to 138, the 
Roman history gives us only the picture of insurrections, bloody 
battles, and atrocious massacres. 



C O M M E N T A R Y. 67 

The Jews had refused to receive the true Messiah : an impostor, 
one of the robbers, who plundered Judea, called Casiba, re- 
nowned for his daring, proclaimed himself to be the long-expected 
Messiah. To secure his success, he took the name of Barcocheva, 
alluding to the star foretold by Balaam, and promised these unfor- 
tunate Jews to render them their ancient glory and liberty. God, 
in his judgments, permitted that they should believe in an impostor. 
Therefore, at his voice, they revolted in all the countries in which 
they had been scattered, and they slaughtered more than six hun- 
dred thousand men, either Greeks or Romans. The Emperor Adrian 
raised up an army and marched against Barcocheva. The impostor 
took refuge in a city called Bither, in which he was killed. The 
city was besieged and taken, and there was an awful massacre. 
The Jews themselves confess that about six hundred thousand of 
their people were destroyed for the defence of this false Messiah, 
and some historians go so far as to set the number to twelve hun- 
dred thousand. We have then, in this event, the accomplishment 
of the first part of the seal : " And power was given to him that sat 
on the red horse, to take peace from the earth ; w here are now the 
civil wars, the military anarchy from 138 to the reign of Constantine. 

The Roman legions revolted, and refused to submit themselves 
to their lawful emperors. They chose for emperors the general or 
the daring soldier, who promised the most to their ambition. Hence 
the different interests of the legions, caused them to take up arms 
the one against the other, and they slaughtered each other, upon 
the battle field, to sustain the respective chief, which they had 
chosen. In about seventy years, there were more than twenty 
emperors, who reigned in Rome with tyranny, and exercised the 
most atrocious cruelties over the subjects of the empire ; and at 
the same time there were, in the provinces, more than thirty 
usurpers, proclaimed by their armies, who caused their followers to 
be slaughtered, to sustain their respective usurpations. The horse- 
man who sat on the red horse had a great sword : he banished 
peace from the earth, and caused men to kill one another. 



Third Seal 

V. 5, 6. " And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast 
say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on 
him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst 
of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures 
of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.'' 

At the opening of this seal there appeared a black horse, which 



68 COMMENTARY. 

is a fair emblem of the distress of the people in a time of calamity. 
The pair of balances and the measures of wheat and barley for a 
penny, indicate clearly what shall be the nature of that calamity, 
to wit, the famine, showing that they shall be obliged to eat their 
bread sparingly (Lev. 26 : 26 ^ Ez. 4 : 16), and by hard labor. 
For the measure, according to some historians, was the quantity 
given to a slave for his daily food ; therefore, it is intended to show 
that they shall be obliged to acquire it by hard labor. The penny, 
worth, then, sixteen cents of our money, was the daily wages of a 
workman. Nevertheless, it is evident that God does not intend to 
destroy them by the scourge of famine ; for he forbids to hurt the 
oil and the wine, which afford the delights of the rich, who can 
mock at the famine with their treasures. But their treasures can- 
not save them from the pestilence, which devours the rich and the 
poor, at the opening of the following seal. 

When David sinned against God, by forcing Joab to number the 
people of Israel, it was said to him : " Shall seven years of famine 
come unto thee in thy land ? or, wilt thou flee three months before 
thine enemies, while they pursue thee ? or that there be three days' 
pestilence in thy land Y f So David was permitted to choose one of 
these scourges of the Lord. But the Roman people have not to 
choose : all the scourges of the wrath of God fall one after the 
other, and all at the same time, upon the persecutors of his ser- 
vants.. Though famine and pestilence are, in some measure, the 
consequence of civil wars, — for husbandry is abandoned during the 
wars, which desolate the country, and unwholesome food eaten 
during the famine, produces pestilence — they are here special 
scourges of God. The famine began to afflict the Roman Empire, 
under the reign of Antoninus, who succeeded to Adrian in 188 ; 
and the famine is placed after the civil wars, only because the 
slaughter of the Jews took place before this scourge. The Emperor 
Antoninus, surnamed " the pious," is said to have bought victuals 
with his money, to relieve the distress of the people. The famine 
broke out again, the first year of the reign of Marcus Aurelian, and 
continued its ravages to the end of the second century, in such a 
manner, that Sicily could no more afford wheat enough to supply 
their wants, and that the emperors were obliged to have some from 
Egypt. Therefore, history unites with the emblems of this seal 
to point out this scourge of God. 



COMMENTARY. 69 



Fourth Seal. 



V. 7, 8. "And when' he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of 
the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse; 
and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him. And 
power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with 
sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." 

At the opening of this seal, all the scourges, death, famine and 
pestilence, the sword and wild beasts, meet together, and are 
followed by hell, the emblem of confusion and torments. No pic- 
ture could give us an idea more frightful and just of the state of 
the Roman empire in those days of heavenly revenge. Desolation is 
general. Pestilence, figured by the "pale horse" and its horseman, 
Death, ravaged the empire during twelve consecutive years, from 
251 to 263, under the reign of Gallus and Volusianus, his son ; and, 
when it was supposed that the scourge had abated, a pestilential 
fever broke out in Ethiopia, and hence it went on to the north, 
desolating all the eastern provinces of the empire. 

Besides this, swarms of barbarians, from every country, appeared 
at its frontiers. The Persians and Scythians, invaded its eastern 
provinces. Cams, proclaimed emperor by the soldiers, who had 
killed their emperor, Probus, gained over the Sarmatians a victory, 
which cost him sixteen thousand men killed, and twenty thousand 
prisoners. He was killed in his tent by lightning, and his son, 
Numerian, was slaughtered by his father-in-law, who attempted to 
reign after him. The father-in-law himself was killed by Diocle- 
tian, who usurped the government of the empire. Under his reign 
all the hordes of northern savages, Scythians, Goths, Sarmatians, 
Alains, and the Gratis, invaded the empire at the same time. For 
that reason, Diocletian associated in the empire his friend, the 
General Herculius Maximian ; and soon after, he conferred also 
the title of emperor, but subordinate to his power, on Constantius 
Chlore and Galerius Maximian. The empire was thus divided 
into four parts, and so we have the explanation of these words of 
the prophecy : " And power was given unto them over the fourth 
part of the earth, to kill with the sword/' that is, over Illyria, 
Thracia, and Asia Minor, which formed the fourth part of the 
empire, under the government of Galerius Maximian. Constantius 
Chlore had the Gauls, Spain, and Britain ; Severus had Africa and 
Italy, and Valerius Maximinus, Egypt and Syria. Maxentius, son 
of Hercules, in 306, and Licinius in 307, received also the title of 
Augustus. 

For " the beasts of the earth, " by which the ferocious tyrants of 
the empire might be also designated, we can judge of this scourge 



70 COMMENTARY. 

from the description of the triumphal procession of Probus, for his 
victories in the Gauls and Germany. It is recorded by historians, 
that besides a multitude of deers, ostriches, and boars, there were 
three hundred bears, two hundred lions, and as many leopards. All 
these scourges should have opened the eyes of the pagan Romans, 
and shown them the true cause of these calamities, which suc- 
ceeded each other and increased every year. But, though they 
had shed by torrents the blood of Christians, upon the altars of 
their gods, they supposed that these scourges were inflicted upon 
them, because Christians did not resort any more to their temples, 
to offer the blood of victims upon their altars. Therefore, they 
accused them of having provoked the wrath of their gods, and when 
the Emperor Maximian appeared at the theatre, they asked with 
cries for the destruction of Christians (see the Church of Smyrna, 
2 : 8-11) ; and then, the Diocletian Persecution was decreed, as we 
find it under the following seal. 



Fifth Seal. 



V. 9-11. " And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar 
the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony 
which they held : and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O 
Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that 
dwell on the earth ? And white robes were given unto every one of them ; 
and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until 
their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they 
were, should be fulfilled." 

The meaning of this seal is clear ; there is no emblem : they are 
the martyrs of the ten pagan persecutions, who cry for deliverance 
from their enemies. But it was said unto them to wait a little 
longer, until their fellow-servants should be killed as they were \ 
for the Lord is slow to anger, and there is an appointed time to the 
wicked for repentance. It is not as malefactors that these martyrs 
were put to death : it is for the word of God and for the testimony, 
which they render to Jesus, the Son of God. Whoever enjoys his 
good sense and reason could scarcely understand how there have 
been such ferocious tigers among men, as to shed the blood of more 
than fifty millions of unfortunates, who had no other crime imputed 
to them, than the religious principles which they held, if we were 
not witnessing, in our days, the same spirit of persecution. But, 
let persecutors remember that the martyr of Jesus, though cut off 
from this world, is not for that destroyed, helpless, and forgotten : 
he is living in heaven ; white robes, washed in the blood of Jesus, 



COMMENTARY. 71 

are given unto him ; and there is a time appointed of God for the 
revenge of his blood, which, as that of Abel, crieth unto God from 
the ground. Though revenge may be delayed for a season, it will 
come soon or late ; for the quiver of the Lord is full of arrows to 
pierce the enemies of his name. 

These martyrs are not, evidently, those of papal persecutions ; we 
shall find them in their places with the chastisement of their op- 
pressors. Those spoken of here are the martyrs of the ten pagan per- 
secutions. They are under a seal, because their persecutors did not 
understand that the cries of the martyrs were heard from God ; 
that God avenged their blood with his scourges, and that he would 
break their oppressors in pieces like potter's vessels, when they 
should have exerted all their power to destroy the work of the Lord. 
At every persecution the same cry of the martyrs was heard from 
under the altar upon which they had been slain. In their impa- 
tience they asked for the revenge of their blood u on them that 
dwell on the earth/' who exercised their tyrannic power over his 
own heritage. At last, the Diocletian Persecution, called " the era 
of martyrs/' was ordered in 303 (see 3 : 8-11) ; and when, after ten 
years of massacres, the persecutors had shown that the wrath of 
man is impotent against the Lord, the Lord arose and he destroyed 
paganism and its supporters, as we find it under the emblems of 
the following seal. 



Sixth Seal. 



V. 12-17. " And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and. lo 
there was a great earthquake ; and the sun became black as a sackcloth of 
hair, and the moon became as blood : and the stars of heaven fell unto the 
earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a 
mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll, when it is rolled to- 
gether ; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the 
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman 
hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to 
the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that 
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of 
his wrath is come ; and who shall be able to stand ?" 

The picture, which is given under this seal, does not represent 
either the end of the world, as I have many times heard it applied 
to that event by popish priests, or the destruction of Jerusalem, as 
is supposed by Henry, for it had been accomplished, and could 
be no more the subject of prophecy ; but it represents evidently the 
victories of Constantine over Maxentius and Licinius, and the de- 



72 COMMENTARY. 

struction of paganism and its supporters. It is the revenge asked for 
by the martyrs who were slain for the word of God, as we have 
seen in the preceding verses. 

Before passing to the explanation of this seal, let us suppose that 
we have to predict the fall of a false religion — the massacre of its 
priests, pontiffs, and followers, and the overthrow of the empire by 
which it is sustained. That we have to predict it in such a manner 
that those, who are to be the victims of its ruin, could not under- 
stand their destiny in the reading of our prediction, we could not 
use the ordinary language; otherwise the accomplishment of our 
prophecy would be counteracted by those who would see their doom 
foretold there. Therefore, we should be obliged to borrow, from 
nature, images and expressions, equivalent to those of the common 
language, and clear enough to be understood after the event de- 
scribed in our figurative language : such has been the case with the 
prophet ) and thence the obscurity, which this prophecy presents 
to our understanding. 

A change in the celestial bodies represents very well the change 
of the political and moral world. An earthquake gives us a fair 
image of the convulsion of an empire. Heaven may represent the 
empire, of which the sun, moon and stars, represent the king, the 
religion, and the chief officers, either captains, priests, augurs, and 
pontiffs. The moon, which shines only with a borrowed light, is a fair 
emblem of a false and idolatrous religion ) and the stars, of its false 
gods worshipped under their names, as Yenus, Saturn, &c. According 
to this figured language, or allegory, " the sun black as sackcloth 
of hair," would indicate the distress and ruin of the emperor — "the 
moon became as blood," would give us the image of the destruction 
of the priests, augurs, pontiffs, followers, and supporters of this ido- 
latrous religion — " the stars of heaven falling unto the earth," would 
indicate the violent fall of the chiefs of this empire, and of the false 
gods of the pagan religion, who are gods no more. In continuing 
the allegory, in this manner, " the heaven departed as a scroll when 
it is rolled together," would represent a state of things which is 
past, and put aside, as a book which we close and put aside, when 
we have done reading it ; " every mountain and island were moved 
out of their places," would also signify that the king or emperor has 
been dethroned, and the subaltern authorities, as governors, pontiffs, 
and priests have been turned out of their offices, to which others 
have been appointed. Now, if to that figured language we should add 
in common expressions : " and the kings of the earth, and the great 
men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty 
men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the 
dens and the rocks of the mountains ; and said to the mountains 



COMMENTARY. 73 

and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth 
on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb," we should under- 
stand easily the meaning of this figured language, and we w r ouldsee 
the distress of a routed army, fleeing before its victorious enemy, 
into the mountains, and calling, the mountains and the rocks to fall 
on them, and to hide them from the revenge of their conqueror, 
and from the wrath of the Lamb, whose servants they had killed 
without mercy. Now, such is the use made of these emblems by 
the prophet; and if we examine that the event thus described 
follows immediately the scourges related under the preceding 
seals, we shall be convinced that it is spoken here of the victories 
of Constantine over the supporters of paganism, in the mountains 
of the Alps, and in Thracia, over Lucinius. 

Every one is acquainted with the history of the triumph of 
Constantine over his enemies. When he was advancing towards 
Home, at the head of an army of ninety thousand foot-soldiers and 
eight thousand horsemen, he inscribed upon his flags, according 
to a vision, which had appeared to him, at the setting of the sun, 
the image of the cross, with these words : " touto ntka" (conquer 
by this sign). On the other side, Maxentius advanced from the 
city with an army of one hundred and seventy thousand foot-soldiers 
and eighteen thousand horsemen. The engagement was for some 
time fierce and bloody. The cavalry of Maxentius being routed, 
victory was declared upon the side of his opponent. Maxentius 
was drowned in his flight, by the breaking down of the bridge, as 
he attempted to cross the Tiber. The Emperor Maximian marched 
also against Licinius, and his army suffered a total defeat : the most 
of his soldiers were cut to pieces, and those who escaped submitted 
to the conqueror. Licinius marched then against Constantine, to 
contend with him for the government of the empire. His army 
was strengthened by all the supporters of paganism; and previous 
to the battle, they invoked their gods. Constantine with his army 
begged the assistance of the God of Christians : success was on his 
side. Licinius was entirely defeated; and it was in vain that the 
fugitives sought a refuge in the mountains of Thracia; they were 
pursued in their retreat ; and Licinius surrendered himself up to 
the victor. Constantine declared Christianity the religion of the 
empire, and paganism, mortally wounded in the mountains in the 
north of Italy and in Thracia, became weaker and weaker, and ex- 
pired under the reign of Theodosius the Great. We may add that 
Diocletian died, one year after, in the torments of a disease attri- 
buted to poison or madness, after having seen his statues over- 
thrown and Christianity flourishing. Maximian was obliged to 
hang himself, after having attempted to kill Constantine, and 



74 COMMENTARY. 

G-alerius expired in the torments of a sickness which baffled all 
the skill of his physician. 

Now, it is easily understood that these great events, which fol- 
lowed immediately the Diocletian Persecution, and caused the ruin 
of paganism and the overthrow of the pagan empire, by which it 
was supported, are really designated by the revolution, figured by 
this great earthquake. That the distress and doom of the Roman 
pagan emperors are clearly represented under the emblem, "the 
sun became black as sackcloth of hair;" that the destruction of 
the priests, augurs, pontiffs, and all the followers and supporters of 
paganism, is fairly represented under the image, " and the moon 
became as blood;" that the fall of pagan gods, worshipped under 
the names of stars, and turned out of the temples, is also repre- 
sented by " the stars of heaven fell unto the earth," being gocls no 
more; and the violence of their fall, when they hoped yet for a 
long existence, is figured with energy by the fig-tree, which "casteth 
her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." No 
image could represent better the end of the Roman pagan empire 
than that of a book or scroll rolled together, and put aside, after 
we have done reading it. 

The mountains are figures consecrated by writers to designate 
the rich and powerful of this world — kings and emperors. The 
islands are types of independent terrestrial powers, but having re- 
lation with other powers, as an island has with the mainland. The 
kingdoms of the earth, being like an agitated sea by their convul- 
sions, the religious powers, which are immovable in the midst of 
revolutions, are very well figured by an island unshaken in the 
midst of tempestuous seas. Therefore, the civil and religious 
powers passing from the heathen to Christian emperors, officers, and 
ministers, could not be better represented than by this emblematic 
image, " and every mountain and island were moved out of their 
places." Mark well this language ! These powers, royalty and 
priesthood, were not destroyed, but moved out (changed out) of 
their places ; they passed from paganism to Christianity. If such 
is, as it is really, the meaning' of this figured language, the same 
emblems " and every island fled away, and the mountains were not 
found," which we find in the twentieth verse of the sixteenth 
chapter, at the pouring out of the seventh vial of the wrath of 
God, called " the vintage — the great day of the Lord" — the mean- 
ing here is that " the ecclesiastic powers, priests, monks, bishops, 
and Pope, shall flee away, and that the kings and tyrants, their sup- 
porters, shall be overthrown from their thrones," in order that all 
the kingdoms of the earth should be the Lord's. 

The last verses, "and the kings of the earth and the great 



COMMENTARY. 75 

nien," &c, are clear and without emblems. They are added to 
the emblematic language, to render it more intelligible. They 
come to sustain the explanation, which we have given here, point- 
ing out, as it were with the finger, by these words, " and they said 
to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face 
of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb," to the place where the events took place ; to the con- 
queror Constantine, by whom they were destroyed ; and to Jesus 
Christ, whose wrath they had provoked for their own destruction, 
by the shedding of the blood of his servants. 

I am confident that there is no other explanation to be given of 
these first six seals. They give us the true picture of the scourges 
which desolated the Roman pagan empire, from 98 to the over- 
throw of paganism, and of the emperors by whom it was supported. 
The emblems, explained according to their natural meaning, agree 
with history. Therefore, put in your mind that such is the true 
explanation of this chapter. Do not employ any more the emblems 
of the sixth seal for the last judgment, except by comparison of 
distress and agony. Do not mix any more the papal with the 
pagan persecutions, for the prophet has described them separately ; 
and as we have now a new state of things, which will soon degene- 
rate into a great apostacy — popery, which shall come out of the 
bottomless pit of the Roman Empire — the Lord provides, during 
the peace enjoyed under Constantine, for the preservation of true 
Christianity, in those woful days, by the sealing of a number of 
servants, as we shall see in the following chapter. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE SEALING OF THE TWO WITNESSES — THEIR MARTYRDOM 

AND GLORY. 

This chapter, which is like an episode or a digression from the 
exposition of the events contained in the book sealed with seven 
seals, presents us a picture of the Church in the future ages, from 
425 to 1888, when Christianity became the religion of England. 
The conqueror, who, at the opening of the first seal, went forth 
conquering and to conquer, has indeed overcome paganism and its 
supporters, and the Roman Empire enjoyed a peace for thirty years 
under the reign of Constantine and some of his successors. But 



76 COMMENTARY. 

Satan is not yet vanquished. He can deceive the ministers of the 
gospel, and cause them to apostatize; and again, he can destroy 
the Roman Empire by the instrumentality of his idolatrous subjects 
in every part of the world, and impose upon the vanquished, the 
religion of the conquerors (12 : 11-17, which synchronize with this 
chapter). 

The Lord, the angel of the covenant, to whom the designs of 
Satan are known, provides here, during the peace, which he has 
the power to command, a means of escape for his Church during 
the woful ages, which are at hand. He seals a number of servants 
of God, called the two witnesses, to preserve the word of God in 
ail its purity, during the Middle Age, and to hand it to the follow- 
ing generations. The last part of the chapter gives us a picture 
of the destruction and holiness of these servants of God, put to 
death, when they had accomplished their testimony, at the Revo- 
cation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, as we shall see in the 
eleventh chapter. 

Y. 1-3. " And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four 
corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should 
not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another 
angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God : and he 
cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the 
earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, 
till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." 

In the prophetic style, the winds represent the armies, because 
they are like a whirlwind, which shakes and overturns the kingdoms 
of the earth, (Is. 21 : 1; Dan. 7 : 2). The armies, which execute 
the judgments of God, are called also " angels" (9 : 14) ; therefore, 
the four angels, standing on the four corners of the earth, to whom 
it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, are the four chiefs of 
the barbarian nations, Alaric, Genseric, Attila, and Odoacer, hold- 
ing their armies (the winds), on the frontiers of the empire, until 
the angel of the covenant should have sealed the servants of God. 
To seal the servants of God means to preach to them the gospel ; 
and whoever receives the word of God in a pure heart, is sealed by 
the Holy Ghost for eternal life (2 Cor. 1 : 21-22; Eph. 1 : 13-14). 
Peace was necessary for the preaching of the gospel, in the 
Western countries, to the Albigenses and Waldenses, as it had 
been first preached in the East, at Jerusalem, whence Jesus, as the 
sun of righteousness, ascended to carry life and immortality to 
light to the Western nations. 

" The angels holding the four winds of the earth" present to us 
a proper emblem of the peace enjoyed about thirty years, through- 
out the Soman Empire. The barbarians, who, under the reign of 



COMMENTARY. 77 

Diocletian, threatened at every moment to invade the Empire, 
seemed to have been enchained. The Goths alone dared to attack 
the frontiers towards the end of the reign of Constantine ; but they 
were pressed so hard, that about one hundred thousand perished 
by hunger and cold. Nevertheless, the four angels, commanding 
the armies of the barbarians, have received the power " to hurt the 
earth and the sea." The earth, miry clay (Dan. 2 : 33-43) is the 
emblem of an earthly, apostate religion, which shall be broken as a 
potter's vessel ; the sea is also the emblem of the kingdoms of this 
world, the convulsions of which are like the storms of the sea 
(Dan. 7:3); and the trees represent the inhabitants of these king- 
doms, who have received the seal of God (9:4; Ps. 1 : 3 ; Jer. 
11:19; 17 : 7-8) ; mark, that it is not said that the four angels 
have received the power to hurt them, but only the earth and the 
sea ; and we shall see them, in the following chapter, accomplishing, 
by turn, their mission. 

V. 4—8. "And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there 
were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the 
children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of 
the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were 
sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. 
Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of 
Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed 
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of 
the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon 
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve 
thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand." 

It may be inquired, 1. For what reason the prophet does not pre- 
serve the order in which the tribes of Israel were classed in the 
ancient Testament? 2. What is the meaning of the numbers 
twelve and one hundred and forty-four thousand ? 3. Who are 
these servants of God, who are sealed in their foreheads ? 

1. The names of the tribes of Israel have been preserved by the 
prophet, with some modification, to show that it is the same work 
of salvation, continued by the Lord, the prince of the two cove- 
nants. There is no distinction made between the bond or free 
women, because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither 
bond nor free, but we are all one in him. The tribes of Dan and 
Ephraim are not spoken of, because they fell into idolatry ; and 
God shows us in that manner that the popish idol-worshippers 
shall be cut off from among his people. The tribe of Levi is 
reckoned here among the others, though they had no terrestrial 
heritage, because under the covenant of grace, we are all priests 
unto God and the Father, and we are all partakers of the spiritual 

7* 



78 COMMENTARY. 

heritage, preserved in heaven for the saints. The tribes of the 
New Jerusalem have no other chief, no other patriarchs, than the 
twelve apostles of the Lord. 

2. The numbers. — The number twelve is evidently taken by the 
prophet for the doctrines of the apostles. The New Jerusalem 
(21 : 12-21) having twelve gates, twelve foundations, and in them 
the names of the twelve apostles, is nothing else than an allegory, 
representing Christianity, or the true Church of God, built upon 
the foundations laid down by the twelve apostles. The expressions 
"the city lieth foursquare" (Eph. 3:18) "twelve thousand fur- 
longs," and "the wall an hundred and forty-four cubits" are all 
emblems of the doctrines of the apostles, the word furlongs being 
added to preserve the allegory- and the number thousand (Is. 
60 : 22) indicates that the true believers shall be increased as from 
one to thousand. The square of twelve, making one hundred and 
forty-four, indicates also that the doctrines of the apostles shall be 
transmitted, in their primitive purity, to the future generations, by 
the preaching of the gospel, as by a multiplication of the doctrines 
by themselves. Therefore, the number "an hundred and forty- 
four thousand," spoken of in cur chapter, being the square of 
twelve, indicates clearly, — not that such a number of servants of 
the Lord have been sealed, — but that an indefinite number of 
servants have been sealed, to preserve the teachings of the apostles 
in all their purity, — that these servants will hand them down to 
others, to a larger number of persons, in the same manner as a 
number multiplied by itself preserves always the same root, and 
continues always the same, except that there is an increase of 
servants, indicated by the number thousand added to the square 
of twelve. The multiplication of a number by itself, as well as 
the lighting of a candle by another, gives us a beautiful image of 
a doctrine transmitted to others and multiplied, as it were, by 
itself, by the preaching of these doctrines, which continue always 
the same, as the root of a number multiplied by itself (see the 
explanation of the wall of the city, 21 : 9-15). 

3. Who are these servants of God, sealed in their foreheads? 
Are they servants chosen among the tribes of Israel? The 
apostle Paul answers, that in Christ there is neither Jew, nor 
Gentile, that we are all one in him, having been graffed in the 
olive tree among them, Therefore, it is spoken here of the 
redeemed of the new covenant, whether they be Jews or Greeks, 
bond or free. At the time of the great Reformation, and of its 
progress, described in the fourteenth chapter, we find again the 
same number, "an hundred and forty and four thousand" servants 
of God, standing with the Lamb on the Mount Sion, to give the 



COMMENTARY. 79 

hand of fellowship to the Reformers of the sixteenth century. Is 
it not, then, evident that these servants are the Albigenses, the 
Waldenses, the Lollards, and Moravians, — composing the first wit- 
ness, as primitive churches, — and the Protestants, composing the 
second witness, as Reformed churches, chosen from among the 
apostate papists ? This assertion shall be demonstrated hereafter 
(11 : 7-13, and especially in the description of the wall of the 
holy Jerusalem ; these two churches being the two towers of the 
wall of the Gentiles broken down, or the two breasts spoken of in 
the Song, 8 : 8-10). 

V. 9-12. "After this I beheld, and, ]o, a great multitude, which no man 
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood 
before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms 
in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God 
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels 
stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and 
fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen : 
Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 
and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen." 

This great multitude of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 
and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, are not, as it is 
supposed, those who were faithful unto death in the preceding 
persecutions; for the dead are no more the subjects of prophecy, 
and we have seen them in the sixth chapter. The same multitude 
of nations, kindreds, people, and tongues is always spoken of, in 
the course of the prophecy, to indicate the barbarians, who, after 
having destroyed the Roman Empire, submitted to the sway of 
popedom (10 : 11 ; 11 : 9 ; 13 : 7; 17 : 1, 15); therefore, they are 
the Protestants, who were put to death in the papal persecutions, 
as we may infer from their song and from the answer of the elder : 
" These are they which came out of great tribulation ." 

As a new state of things has been established by Constantine, 
and as Christians' supposed that the final triumph of the Church 
had been accomplished, the prophet shows us in the picture of this 
chapter, what shall be the condition of the Church in the ages to 
come. The white robes, with which these martyrs are clothed, 
are the emblems of purity and holiness; and the palms in their 
hands, are the symbols of their victories over Satan and popery. 
In their song, they confess their Protestant principles. Their 
enemies forced them to profess that salvation comes by good works, 
fastings, penances, confessions, pilgrimages, and by the mediation 
of saints, relics, and the power of popes ; and these servants of 
God cried with a loud voice, saying in dungeons, in torments, and 



80 COMMENTARY. 

in the sight of their executioners : " Salvation to our God, which 
sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb." Salvation conies 
from God, as the author of all good, and the source of the living 
waters. It comes from the Lamb, as the channel through which 
the blessings now, having covered our sins with the blood of the 
cross. The angels, who surround the throne, and the elders, and 
the four beasts (the representatives of the militant and triumphant 
Church 4 : 4-11) applauding the faithfulness of these martyrs, 
fail before the throne on their faces and worship God, saying, as 
to approve their firmness and confession of faith : " Amen : Bless- 
ing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and 
power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever : Amen." 
So, all our blessings, graces, joy, peace, and eternal hopes come 
from God and the Lamb, slain for our sins ; and to God alone we 
must ascribe praises, and glory, and thanksgiving, forever and ever. 

V. 13-17. "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are 
these which are arrayed in white robes'? and whence came they? And I 
said unto him, Sir, thon. knowest. And he said to me, These are they which 
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, are they before the throne of 
God, and serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the 
throne shall dwell among them ; they shall hunger no more, neither thirst 
any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb 
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed, them, and shall lead them unto 
living fountains of waters • and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes." 

" What are these which are arrayed in white robes ?" The answer 
of the elder, " These are they which came out of great tribulation," 
spoken of already as " the hour of temptation, which shall come 
upon ail the world" (3 : 10), in the letter to the Church of Phila- 
delphia, which is the emblem of the Reformation, and alluded to 
in the fourteenth chapter, verse 12, 13, where its progress is de- 
scribed, shows evidently that they are the martyrs of the papal per- 
secutions, called "the two witnesses/' from the destruction of the 
Albigenses in 1194 and 1260, — from St. Bartholomew's Day, in 
1572, — and the massacre of Protestants in Ireland in 1641, and es- 
pecially to the dragoonades of Louis XIV., at the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes, in 1685, — persecution which, is properly called 
" the great day of tribulation/' in which the two witnesses were 
put to death (11 : 7—13), and after which, in 1688, the spirit of 
life from G-od entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, 
and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, that is, to the throne of 
England, when there was a great earthquake — a great revolution, 
the Prince of Orange having proclaimed Protestantism the religion 
of his kingdom. 



COMMENTARY. 81 

The last verses, " they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any 
more; neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat/' indicate 
what were their sufferings. Their persecutors refused them water 
and fire, and deprived them of their property; the kings, repre- 
sented by the sun, and their persecutions, by the heat, shall have 
no more the power to persecute them, and to put them to death; 
for the Lamb will dwell with them, and give them a powerful king- 
dom, to protect them : he will feed them, and lead them unto living 
fountains of waters, under the protection of the Christian laws of 
England. In the prosperity which they shall enjoy, they will for- 
get their fiery trials; for God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes. It is evident that these promises are made to the living 
Protestants, as a reward for their faithfulness, as composing the 
same body with the martyrs, who " washed their robes,. and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb." Mark what expressions, 
" they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb." Heaven only could teach such a language ! Such 
an idea, as to wash and make white his robe in the blood, could 
never enter into the mind of a man. But, with what energy it 
represents the cleansing of our sins by the atonement of Jesus 
Christ ! These living Protestants, having come out, escaped from 
the great tribulation, are before the throne of God, and serve him 
day and night in his temple, and they " shall go no more out" 
(3 : 12) by persecutions ; for the Lord that sitteth on the throne 
shall dwell among them, after their final triumph (21 : 1-9). 

At what time were the servants of the Lord sealed ? It is evi- 
dent, that it was during the peace enjoyed from the overthrow of 
paganism, under Constantine and some of his successors, to the 
time of the incursions of the barbarians, described in the following 
chapter. If the witnesses finished their testimony, which is of 
twelve hundred and sixty years, at the revocation of the Edict of 
Nantes, in February, 1685, it follows that they began to accomplish 
their testimony in 425. And, it was, in fact, towards the end of 
the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century, that the mira- 
cles of saints and relics were spoken of — that prayers were ad- 
dressed to them, and heresies were introduced into the Church. 
The bones of St. Stephen, Nicodemus, and Gamaliel, were found 
in 420, and were said to perform miracles ; the mass was intro- 
duced the same year, though it was only in 1090, that it arrived 
at its perfection. Prayers were addressed to the Virgin Mary in 
425 ; and the title of " Mother of God" was applied to her in 429. 
The heresy of Pelagius was promulged in 412. The feasts of 
Advent, and Palm-Sunday, and the superstition of Ash-Wednesday, 
were commenced about the year 430. Soon after came the graven 



82 COMMENTARY. 

images, and the Iconoclasts were persecuted as heretics. There- 
fore, we may say, that the witnesses began to accomplish their testi- 
mony in 425, and finished it in 1685, at the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes. When Protestantism became the religion of 
England, Christians were no more witnesses in the wilderness, but 
an established church, a Christian kingdom. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

At the opening of the first seals, we have seen in the sixth 
chapter, the scourges which caused the decline of the Roman Em- 
pire, and the destruction of paganism. The four winds, the 
emblems of the four armies, held on its frontiers, until the servants 
of God should be sealed (7 : 1-3), are going to be let loose, to 
destroy this empire, which has been weighed in the balances, and 
found wanting. The historian of the popes, Machiavel, reckons 
ten different barbarian nations, which came, by turns, to invade 
the empire, under the command of four principal chiefs, namely : 
Alaric, G-enseric, Attila, and Odoacer. According to Machiavel, 
these barbarian nations were, 1, the Huns; 2, Ostrogoths; 3, 
Visigoths ; 4, Franks ; 5, Vandals ; 6, Suevi ; 7, Burgundians ; 
8, Heruii; 9, Saxons; 10, Lombards. (There are also the Aiains, 
the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, being the same people.) 

At the death of Theodosius, in 395, the storm, so long threaten- 
ing in the north, burst out on the borders of the Upper Danube. 
The savage warriors of Scythia came out of their forests ; and, this 
river being covered with the ice of a sharp winter, they were 
enabled to cross this barrier, by which they had been so long de- 
tained. Hence the Goths, under Alaric, fell upon Thracia, Mace- 
donia, and Grecia ; and following the coasts of the Adriatic Sea, 
they ravaged Pannonia and Noricum; then, having crossed the 
Alps, they overran, like a torrent, the fertile valleys of Italy, and 
besieged Rome, whilst the feeble Honorius remained shut up in 
Ravenna. Rome was soon reduced to the last extremity. Its wails 
were filled with a multitude of persons, who fled before this fero- 
cious enemy. Hunger and pestilence disputed for their victims. 
Their haughty conqueror, to raise the siege and retire, asked 
nothing less than all their riches and slaves. And when they in- 



COMMENTARY. 83 

quired what lie would leave to the conquered, he replied: " Life." 
The Romans gave him their gold and silver; and, at this price, 
Alaric consented to raise the siege and to go away. But, soon after 
finding that he might become master of Rome, whenever he thought 
proper, he returned to Rome, besieged it, took it in 410, and gave 
the soldiers liberty to pillage. 

In the mean time, other barbarians overran the western provinces 
in 407, and built up there new kingdoms. The Gauls and Spain 
were divided among the powerful monarchies of the Franks and 
Visigoths, and the dependent kingdoms of the Suevi and Burgun- 
dians. Africa became the prey of the Vandals and of the savage 
Moors. In 455, the Emperor Valentinian III., having been killed 
by Maximus, the Empress Eudoxia, his wife, to avenge the death 
of her husband, invited Genseric, King of the Vandals, to come 
and take possession of Rome, promising him an easy victory. 
Genseric crossed the sea at the head of three hundred thousand 
men, Vandals or Moors, captured Sicily, burnt the Roman fleet in 
the port of Ostia, invaded Italy and plundered Rome, which he 
abandoned fourteen days to pillage, and to the unbridled license of 
the soldiers. They respected neither sex nor age, neither religion 
nor public monuments ; and then they returned to Africa, with 
the spoils of this capital of the world. 

At the same time, Attila, called " the scourge of God," came 
out of the Caucasian mountains, at the head of the Huns. He 
passed by Constantinople, from which he exacted a heavy tribute, 
and fell like lightning upon Piedmont and Lombardy, and was 
threatening Rome with a general destruction, when a sudden death 
arrested at once the course of his triumphs and devastations. On 
the other side, the Saxons contended, in 476, with the native in- 
habitants of Great Britain, for the possession of that country ; and 
the Allemans, so called because they were a people composed of 
men of every nation, seized also upon Germany. 

Notwithstanding these awful calamities and this dismembering of 
the provinces, there was still in Rome the shadow of an empire. 
The tottering colossus was still standing, and waited, to fall, a last 
blow, which was given, in 476, by Odoacer, general of the Heruli. 
He took, then, the title of King of all Italy, under the reign of 
Momillus, surnamed by derision " Augustulus/' who was obliged, 
in 480, to abandon to Odoacer the government of the empire. 
Some other changes having yet taken place, the ancient form of 
the empire was utterly destroyed, in 566 ; and Rome, the mistress 
of the world, was reduced to be only a poor dukedom, tributary to 
the exarchs of Ravenna. Let us examine, now, the emblems and 
images by which these events are represented in the prophecy. 



84 COMMENTARY. 



Seventh Seal 

V. 1-5. " And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence 
in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels 
which stood before God ; and to them were given seven trumpets. And 
another angel came and stood at the altar, bearing a golden censer- and there 
was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of 
all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the 
smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended 
up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and 
filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth : and there were 
voices, and thunderings and lightnings, and an earthquake." 

These five verses are like the preface to the events proclaimed 
at the sounding of the trumpets. The silence in heaven (in the 
empire) " of about the space of half an hour/' niay represent the 
peace which was enjoyed under the reign of Constantine, when the 
four winds were held, until the servants of God should be sealed 
(7 : 1-3). But the emblem "of half an hour" is too short to repre- 
sent this peace, which continued about thirty years. Therefore it 
is evident that the prophet alludes to the peace enjoyed by the 
Church from the time of the victories of Constantine over Maxen- 
tius and Licinius to the time when the heresy of Arius broke out, 
in 319, and disturbed the Church and the empire. The devil be- 
ing expelled from the pagan temples invaded Christian temples. 
Constantine, by proclaiming Christianity the religion of the empire, 
contributed a great deal for the temporal prosperity of the Church, 
which was made free from the yoke of the heathens; but his favors 
were pernicious to the purity of the doctrines and to the discipline 
of the Church. As soon as the Christians were delivered from the 
fury of the heathens, they began to quarrel and persecute each 
other. Ammian Marcellian, a witness of their discords, in the 
fourth century, says that the fury of wild beasts was less to be 
feared than the hatred of Christians against one another; whilst, 
in the second century, Tertullian says, that the heathens, at seeing 
the mutual love which reigned among them, exclaimed : " Behold, 
how they love one another ! ,; 

The favors with which the Christians were henceforth surrounded, 
introduced into the Church worldly and ambitious men, who 
did not care much about either the sanctity of morals or the purity 
of the evangelical doctrines. As they did not know the importance 
of the teachings of the word of/God, they submitted them to the 
tribunal of their reason, and borrowed, from paganism and Judaism, 
everything they thought proper to render the worship more pom- 
pous, and to form a religion more suitable to their ideas. The 
word of God being once put aside, the innovations went on swiftly. 



COMMENTARY. 85 

Molten images succeeded to the pictures representing the agonies 
of the martyrs. From the honors rendered to the martyrs, they 
passed rapidly to the prayers which were addressed to them, and 
to the temples which were consecrated to their worship. The 
worship of saints took the place of that of the demigods; and for 
the word of God were substituted the legends of the saints. Hence- 
forth salvation was no more the price of the blood of the Saviour, but 
of fastings, mortifications, austerities, and penances. Perfection does 
not any more consist in walking faithfully before God, but in a 
useless life, shut up in cloisters, and in the vows of a celibacy, which 
became the source of all immoralities and the curse of the world. 
God was no more the master of this universe ; they banished him 
from its government to place it under the protection of the saints 
and saintesses. And, as among the pagans, the fields, public 
edifices, rivers and fountains, cities and kingdoms, were under the 
protection of the pagan gods, Pan, Neptune, Mars, Venus, Jupi- 
ter, &c, so they changed the names, and placed them under the 
patronage of the saints Peter, Paul, Lawrence, Denys, Martin, &c. 
Again, as the Romans had a Jupiter Ammon, Jupiter Olympian, 
Jupiter Feretrian, Jupiter Capitolinus, Jupiter Hospitable, Jupiter 
Inventor, Jupiter Sponsor, Jupiter Imperor, Jupiter Sower, Jupiter 
Victor, Jupiter Avenger, &c, they invented a Mary, Our Lady, 
Our Lady of Lauretta, Our Lady of Montferrat, Our Lady of Liessa, 
Our Lady of Thorns, Our Lady of Good Succour, Our Lady of Good 
News, Our Lady of Recoverance, Our Lady of Healing, Our Lady of 
Virtues, Our Lady of Fevers, Our Lady of Hermits, and even Our 
Lady of the Snows ! All these innovations began to appear under 
the reign of Constantine, and were propagated, in the following 
centuries, in such a manner that a Pope confessed that in reading 
the theologians — their doctrines being grounded on traditions — he 
no more understood anything in the gospel, and that in reading 
the gospel, he could understand nothing in the writings of the 
theologians. Let us, now, examine our texts. 

After this silence of half an hour, seven trumpets were given to 
the seven angels which stood before God, and which were commis- 
sioned to execute the judgments of God, on account of this idola- 
trous worship introduced into his Church. And, as the trumpet 
is made use of to give the signal of the combat, we are informed 
thereby that it is related of bloody wars and of far-resounding 
events, as the sound of the trumpet. At the same time, the pro- 
phet saw another angel, which- stood at the altar, having a golden 
censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should 
offer it with the prayers of all saints (Christians) upon the golden 
altar which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense, 

8 



86 COMMENTARY. 

which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before 
God. But the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the 
altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and thun- 
derings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. 

This angel, Henry says, is the Lord Jesus, the High Priest of 
his Church, giving efficacy to the prayers of Christians. But, if 
this angel be Jesus Christ himself, how is it that he filled his censer 
with the fire of the altar, which is the emblem of the wrath of God ? 
There is evidently in this fact of the angel an insult offered to God ; 
for in consequence of this outrage, there were voices, and thunder- 
ings, and lightnings, which are the forerunners of the storm, and 
an earthquake, which is the emblem of political convulsions. There- 
fore this angel is not Jesus Christ ; but this angel is the very angel 
of the Church of Pergamos (2 : 12-17), and his acts here are an 
image of the conduct of the Church, exalted by the favors of Con- 
stant in e. 

When the Christians were made free from the yoke of the 
heathens, they thought that the kingdom of Christ, the Millen- 
nium, had come. The temples were filled with faithful disciples 
of Jesus, offering up the incense of their prayers and thanksgivings 
to the God who had delivered them. Then, the temples resounded 
with the songs of joy and cheerfulness, and the angel of the 
Church — the emblem of bishops and pastors — standing, that is, 
ministering at the altar, could offer much incense with the prayers 
of the saints, upon the golden altar (Jesus Christ who is our golden 
altar), before the throne of God. As long as the pastors were 
faithful, the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, 
ascended before God. But, like the sons of Aaron, Nadab, and 
Abihu, they took their censer, they put fire therein, and offered a 
strange fire, by sinning against the altar itself, Jesus Christ; whence 
it is said that " he filled his censer with fire of the altar," with 
the wrath of their outraged Mediator and Eedeemer, and cast this 
fire, the emblem of wrath, into the earth, that is, in the midst of 
this earthly religion, which had raised up again the altars of the 
demigods by praying to the saints. Therefore, the wrath of God, 
provoked by this idolatrous worship, which detracted from the glory 
of our Mediator, slain as the Lamb of God for our sins, manifested 
itself from the outraged altar, the emblem of the atonement of 
Christ, our altar — and the ruin of the Roman Empire was decreed 
in consequence of the unfaithfulness of his Church (of Pergamos). 

It is said (12 : 13-16) that it was Satan, who cast out of his 
mouth (paganism) the hordes of idolatrous barbarians against the 
Roman Empire, supposing that they would impose upon the con- 
quered, their gods, religion, and morals, and that they would destroy, 



COMMENTARY. 87 

in this manner, the very name of Jesus Christ. It is because God, 
to avenge the sins of his people, has only to abandon us to the 
wrath of the wicked one, who is always ready to destroy. "VYe live 
only by the continual protection of God ; and, when he is willing 
to punish us for our iniquities, he has but to withhold the hand by 
which we are sustained. Nevertheless, He it is who overrules the 
chastisement, and our enemies are not permitted to go beyond the 
limits which He has prescribed. 



First Trumpet. 

V. 6. 7. " And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared 
themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and 
fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth : and the third 
part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up." 

The Goths began to ravage the Empire, as soon as the Emperor 
Theodosius was dead, in 395, and they took Home in 410. Their 
incursions, under Alaric, are represented under the emblem of a 
storm, which destroyed the third part of trees, and all green grass, 
and in which there was hail and fire mingled with blood ; and they 
were cast upon the earth — upon the earthly religion, the miry clay 
(Dan. 2 : 33-43), which is the emblem of a worldly religion. As 
the storm and hail destroy the harvest, so the armies destroy the 
cities and their inhabitants. The fire may represent the burning 
of the cities and villages ; and the blood, the destruction of their 
inhabitants ; but it may be also the fire of the wrath of God, with 
which the angel of the Church of Pergamos filled his censer and 
cast it into the earth, reminding the inhabitants that they expe- 
rienced these calamities on account of the idolatrous worship, which 
they had established in the temple of God. The fourth verse of 
the eleventh chapter shows evidently that the words "trees" and 
" green grass," represent the old and the young Christians; but 
they represent only, in this text, the men who were able to make 
war, and the children, who were massacred by these barbarians, 
who, after having reduced to ashes the cities and villages, carried 
away their spoils, and their cattle, with a multitude of women. So, 
the countries, which were invaded by the savages, were desolated, 
as the fields are wasted by hail : the fire was mingled with the 
blood of the inhabitants, and everything which pleases the eyes — 
the trees and ail green grass (men and children) — was burnt up. 

We have seen in the sixth chapter that the Empire was divided 
into four parts under the reign of Diocletian ) but, after the death 
of Constantine, in 337, it was divided among his sons, into three 
parts. Fiav. CI. Constantine, by his surname Constantine the 



88 COMMENTARY. 

Junior, had Spain, the G-auls, and Great Britain ; Fl. Jul. Val. 
Constantius had Asia and Egypt ) and Fi. Jul. Constans had Italy, 
Illyria, and Africa. Therefore, when the prophet says that "the 
third part of trees was burnt up," he designates Italy, as forming 
a part of the Empire, divided among the three sons of Constantine, 
which part had to suffer the most from these barbarians. 



Second Trumpet. 

V. 8, 9. " And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain 
burning with fire was cast into the sea ; and the third part of the sea became 
blood. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had 
life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed." 

The image of a great mountain burning with fire, which was cast 
into the sea, gives us a just idea of the invasion of Genseric, in 
455 ; but it could not represent that of Attila, which took place in 
441. The reason is, that Genseric began to ravage the empire with 
his Vandals in 407, when he passed through the Gauls and Spain, 
to go to Africa, where he had laid the foundation of his kingdom. 
He had, thus, the right to appear before Attila in this theatre of 
destruction. He came from the burning countries of Africa, and 
he fell suddenly into the sea, as it were a great mountain burning 
with fire — as the Mount Etna — and the sea became blood. He 
was at the head of three hundred thousand men, either Moors or 
Vandals ; he destroyed the Roman fleet in the port of Ostia ; he 
took Rome, and abandoned it to pillage and to the unrestrained 
licentiousness of his soldiers. No mention is made of the city, because 
it was not destroyed, the barbarians having been satisfied with the 
spoils of the conquered. But they spared so little the monuments 
of arts and sciences, that, the name of " Vandalism" has since 
been used to designate those, who, like them, are ignorant of 
their value, and care little for their preservation. 

In this short incursion of one year, the Roman fleet was de- 
stroyed, as it is represented by " the sea which became blood;" and 
the sailors, the creatures, which were in the sea, were killed. The 
words : "the third part of the ships were destroyed," point out the 
event, designated by " the mountain burning with fire cast into the 
sea," which became blood ; and the " third part of the sea — of the 
creatures," indicates, as the theatre of this event, Italy, one of the 
countries of the Empire divided into three parts. 



Third Trumpet. . 

V. 10, 11. "And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from 
heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the 



COMMENTARY. 89 

rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called 
Wormwood ; and the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many 
men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." 

The Huns, a people from Scythia, hold the third rank in the 
prophetic picture of the desolations of the Roman Empire ; because 
their incursions under Attila, began only in 427, and continued to 
441. The countries upon which this ferocious conqueror fell, as it 
were a burning lamp, are clearly designated as the source of rivers 
and fountains of waters. For, if we take a geographic map, and 
look for such a country in Europe, we see that the prophet has 
evidently pointed out the mountains of the Alps, in the north of 
Italy, in Piedmont and Lombardy, from which spring the Rhone, 
Rhine, Po, and Danube Rivers (see the same country pointed out 
as the dwelling-place of the prophets of the Lord, 16 : 4-7). 

Attila, surnamed by the historians "the scourge of God," and 
by the prophet " Wormwood," for the cruel and bitter desolations 
which he caused everywhere he led his triumphant army, came 
from the east and fell upon these countries, threatening Rome with 
an utter destruction ; but his life ended with the same rapidity, 
with which the meteors* by which he is represented, disappear from 
our eyes. It is easily understood what sufferings the inhabitants of 
these countries had to endure from these barbarians, who, after 
having lost their chief, abandoned themselves freely to pillage with 
all their brutish ferocity. But nothing can give us a more vivid 
picture of their calamities, than the emblems by which they are 
represented: "And the third part of the waters became worm- 
wood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made 
bitter." 



Fourth Trumpet. 

V. 12. " And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was 
smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as 
the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part 
of it, and the night likewise." 

The prophet gives no image to represent the incursions of 
Odoacer : he gives only the results of his conquests. Likewise, if 
you read history, you will find nothing positive about the incursions 
of this chief of the Heruli. The very name of the countries, from 

* A princess of Burgundy, called Hildegonde, having married him, in 
order to deliver the world from that terrible enemy, as well as to avenge 
the city of Aquilea, which he had just reduced to ashes, poniarded him. He 
ravaged Venice, in 450, and the islands at the foot of the Adriatic Gulf. 

8* 



90 COMMENTARY. 

which these barbarians came, is unknown, except that it is said 
that they came from the west, in 476 — that Odoacer took the title 
of King of all Italy, under the reign of the feeble Momillus, called 
by derision " Augustulus" — that the same Odoacer took the govern- 
ment of Rome itself in 480. And thus ended the colossus of the 
Roman Empire, by the hands of this chief of barbarians, supposed 
to have come from Prussia. 

" The third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of 
the moon, and the third part of the stars ; so as the third part of 
them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, 
and the night likewise/ ' The sun, being in the prophetic language, 
the figure of the chief of the state ; and the moon, the emblem of a 
false religion, shedding but a borrowed light ; and the stars, repre- 
senting the subaltern chiefs, either civil or ecclesiastic (6 : 12-17), 
we have, in this emblematic language, a fair picture of the western 
empire, — Italy, the third part of it — after this invasion of the 
Heruli. The words, "the day shone not for a third part of it, 
and the night likewise/' signify, therefore, that the Roman Empire, 
being smitten by Odoacer, the emperor and the inferior chiefs had 
neither power nor glory, and that its religion lost likewise all her 
heavenly light. This pagan empire, the fourth monarchy spoken 
of by Daniel, under the emblem of a dreadful and terrible beast 
(7 : 7—26), has been wounded to death, and has become the prey 
of ten barbarian people, represented by the ten horns of the same 
beast. Now, he who hindered the man of sin — u a king diverse 
from the others" — from being revealed, has been taken out of the 
way ;■ and we shall soon, see this son of perdition exalting himself 
above all that is called God, and as God sitting in the temple of 
God, showing himself that he is God (2 Th. 2 : 3-12). An angel 
flying through the midst of heaven admonishes us — by the thrice 
repeated cry: " Woe, woe, woe," — of the long and dreadful calami- 
ties of his reign, which shall continue 1260 years. 

V. 13. " And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of 
heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the 
earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which 
are yet to sound." 

Men did not repent during the calamities which we have just 
examined. On the contrary, instead of teaching these barbarians 
the pure and holy truths of Christianity, to raise up their feelings 
and thoughts to the true God, they endeavored only to enchant 
them, with bright ornaments, and pompous ceremonies; they 
stooped to their level, and abased Christianity to the level of 
paganism, exchanging their saints with their gods, to have their 



COMMENTARY. 91 

names registered in their degraded Christianity. It was in this 
manner that the rnoon, the emblem of this pagan Christianity, as 
dark as the night, " shone not for a third part of it." Therefore, 
new calamities are at hand, as we are admonished by the angel, 
saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of 
the earth I" 

Mark these words, u the inhabiters of the earth," which we find 
again in the twelfth verse of the twelfth chapter, where it is said, 
11 Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the in- 
habiters of the earth and of the sea I" The meaning of this verse 
is: rejoice, ye who dwell in a civil and Christian kingdom or 
empire (of which the "heaven" is an emblem)-, woe to the inhabi- 
tants of a kingdom in which the church and the state are united 
(the earth, or miry clay, being the emblem of an earthly religion, 
and the sea, that of the civil powers Dan. 2 : 33-45; 7 : 2-13). 
Therefore these words, "the inhabiters of the earth," mean: woe 
to the inhabitants of the kingdom or empire, when it shall be 
under the government of a false, earthly religion. Here, religion 
stands alone; for the civil power has been destroyed. Rome is 
but a dukedom tributary to the Ravenna's exarchate; the Bishop of 
Rome will soon take possession of the throne of the Caesars, and open 
the bottomless pit (the destruction of the Roman Empire), out of 
which shall come the three woes, which are, 1st., Popery and the 
Middle Age, with the incursions of the Mahometans ; 2d, the Cru- 
sades, with the destruction of the Eastern Empire by the Turks ; 
and 3d, the infidelity of the eighteenth century, with the anarchy 
which brought forth the French Revolution of 1793, and which 
will end only by the destruction of the kingdoms of this world, that 
they should be the Lord's. 



CHAPTER IX. 

POPERY AND THE MIDDLE AGE — BONIFACE III., THE FIRST 

POPE, IN 606 — MAHOMET AND HIS ARMIES THE TAKING OF 

CONSTANTINOPLE BY THE TURKS, IN 1453. 

The Roman Empire is no more. But, according to the pro- 
phetic teachings, the ten barbarian people by which it was de- 
stroyed, ought to raise it up out of its ruins, by dividing its- pro- 
vinces among themselves, and giving their power to the man of sin, 



92 COMMENTARY. 

called, " the great Antichrist," to whom the way to the throne of 
the Csesars is now opened. The fourth monarchy, represented in 
the seventh chapter of Daniel, under the emblem of a dreadful 
beast with ten horns, has evidently two distinct existences, figured, 
the one, by the beast itself, and the other, by the ten horns. 
" The fourth beast," the prophet says, " shall be the fourth kingdom 
upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall 
devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in 
pieces." This is the Empire, which has been destroyed by the 
four chiefs of the barbarians. The prophet adds : " And the ten 
horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise : and 
another shall rise after them ; and he shall be diverse from the first, 
and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words 
against the most high, and shall wear out the saints of the most 
high, and think to change times and laws : and they shall be given 
unto his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time •" 
that is, 1260 years. Such is the character of the second part of this 
Empire, " wounded to death," according to the expression of Saint 
John, by the same barbarians, who shall raise it up out of its ruins, 
with the other who shall rise after them, and who " shall be" — 
mark it well — " diverse from the first ;" and who can be no other 
than a king-priest, and whose kingdom is popedom, as it shall be 
proved hereafter. The two ages of the Church, figured by the 
letters to the churches in Thyatira and Sardis, synchronize with the 
events included in this chapter, which contains four distinct parts. 

1. At the sounding of the fifth trumpet, a star fallen from 
heaven unto the earth, receives the key to open the bottomless pit, 
representing the utter destruction of the Roman Empire ; and out 
of the pit arose a smoke, as the smoke of a great furnace, by which 
the sun and the air were darkened. And this smoke is the emblem 
of Popery and of the Dark Ages, which arose out of the ruins of 
the Roman Empire, the key, or power, of which was given to the 
Bishop of Rome 5 verses 1, 2. 

2. Out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth ; and unto 
them was given power to torment men five prophetic months, that 
is, 150 years. Their king, the angel of the bottomless pit, sent to 
punish the churches for this apostacy, is called in the Hebrew 
tongue "Abaddon," and in Greek "Apollyon," the destroyer, — 
and represent the Saracens, and Mahomet, spoken of by the 
prophet Daniel (8 : 23-26) ; verses 3-11. 

3. At the sounding of the sixth trumpet, four angels, bound in 
the great river Euphrates, and ready to accomplish the command 
of God, are let loose, to slay the third part of men ; that is, Con- 



COMMENTARY. 93 

stantinople, "by fire and smoke and brimstone," representing the 
artillery, by which the Turks took Constantinople ) verses 12, 19. 

4. The prophet teaches us in the last verses that these calami- 
ties have fallen upon men for their worshipping devils, and idols of 
gold, silver, brass, and stone and wood, and for their being mur- 
derers, sorcerers, fornicators, and thieves. 



Fifth Trumpet. 



V. 1, 2. " And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven 
unto the earth : and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he 
opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the 
smoke of a great furnace ; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason 
of the smoke of the pit." 

Instead of, "and I saw a star fall from heaven," the Greek, 
" eidon asterd peptokota," indicates that the star was already 
fallen (see 8 : 3-5). The stars are the angels or bishops of the 
churches (1 : 20) • therefore this star, fallen from heaven unto the 
earth, from the heavenly religion of Jesus unto an earthly and 
idolatrous religion, cannot be the emblem of the person, spoken of 
(verse 11) as the angel of the bottomless pit. For the one who 
receives the key to open the pit, can in no wise be the one who 
comes out of it with his armies. The angel of the pit, who is the 
instrumentality of the vengeance of the Lord, cannot be the one 
who has provoked them. Besides this, the prophet would not re- 
present in the same picture the same person under the two different 
emblems of " star" and " angel." Therefore, if Mahomet, who 
never professed Christianity, nor taught his followers to worship 
devils, or deified souls of men, or to kneel down before idols of gold 
and silver, be this angel of the pit, this Apollyon, the destroyer, as 
he was indeed; Boniface III., an apostate bishop, fallen from the 
faith, who consecrated the worship of devils and of idols of gold, of 
silver, of stone and wood ; who, by the favor of the tyrant Phocas, 
usurped the title of universal bishop and laid thus the foundation 
of popery ; is himself that fallen star, to whom the key of the bot- 
tomless pit was given. 

His predecessor, Gregory the Great, said in a letter, written in 
602, to the Bishop of Constantinople, who was attempting to usurp 
the same title, "that any one who should usurp the title of uni- 
versal bishop, would be the forerunner of Antichrist, were he not 
Antichrist himself." Four years later his successor, Boniface III., 
received from the bloody hands of the usurper Phocas, the key of 
the bottomless pit, out of which came the Dark Ages, represented 



94 COMMENTARY. 

by the smoke of the pit and by the darkening of the " sun and of 
the air," which are here the emblems of light, science and under- 
standing. The Devil, who is the prince of darkness, destroys light 
and knowledge, and favors error and ignorance, in order that men 
should be blinded and easily led astray. The papal pretensions, 
favored by the dark smoke of the pit, by the false decretals, by 
legends of saints and lying miracles, increased more and more in 
proportion as the people were sinking into such a deep ignorance 
that they seemed to have fallen into infancy, and that they could 
have been prevailed upon " to feed upon straw/ ' says a German 
philosopher, "and to ruminate like beasts, had not Luther come 
to open their eyes." 

" And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit." This 
expression, "the bottomless pit," cannot represent hell, as it has 
been imagined by commentators ; for it is a prophecy, and the 
prophet speaks of things which take place, not in the invisible 
world, but on the earth, in the Roman Empire, which is the 
heaven spoken of in this prophecy. The same expression is 
employed (20 : 1-3) to represent the utter destruction of the king- 
doms of this world, at the coming of the Lord ; but there the key 
of that destruction, of that bottomless pit, is given to an angel 
from heaven ; and in opening that abyss, he brings forth the king- 
dom of the Lord; whilst "the fallen star," in this chapter, brings 
forth out of the ruins of the Empire, popedom, and the Dark Ages, 
aud all the calamities represented by the smoke of a great furnace 
and by the darkening of the sun and of the air, which are the 
symbols of knowledge and understanding (see the state of the 
Church before the Reformation, chap, x.) 

Popery was a curse of God on account of former transgressions 
against the teachings of the word of God. The Bishop of Borne, 
this once faithful martyr, Antipas, had been already killed by 
riches and worldly grandeurs, in the city where Satan dwelieth. 
The ambitious Nicolaitanes (2 : 6, 13, 15), who deprived the people 
of all power in the admin istration of the Church, had made ready 
the way for the manifestation of the man of sin. Every pagan 
innovation, the idolatrous worship of the saints, images, and relics, 
every superstitious practice, and antichristian dogma, were sanc- 
tioned as teachings of the word of God; and soon after, the 
decretals and the legends of the saints were the only rules and 
teachings of the Church, and the holy city was trodden under foot 
of the Gentiles. But the rod of the Lord was ready to chastise 
men for this apostacy; and he chose for the avengers of his 
despised covenant the Saracens, whose description is given here 
under the emblem of locusts prepared unto battle. 



COMMENTARY. 95 

V. 3-12. " And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth : and 
unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And 
it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, 
neither any green thing, neither any tree 5 but only those men which have not 
the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they 
should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months : and 
their torment ivas as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall 
desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 

''- And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle ; 
and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as 
the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth 
were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates 
of iron ; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many 
horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there 
were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, 
whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue 
hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past ; and, behold, there come two 
woes more hereafter." 

This description of the locusts points out the armies of the 
Saracens, led by the caliphs, successors of Mahomet. They are 
represented under that emblem, because there come, every year 
from May to October, that is, during live months, clouds of locusts 
out of the deserts of Arabia, the native country of the Saracens, 
which waste in one night the fields upon which they fall. They 
" came out of the smoke" of the great furnace, the emblem of the 
wrath of God on account of the mystery of iniquity, which has 
been revealed by the manifestation of the man of sin, the great 
Antichrist; and they fell "upon the earth/' upon the countries 
in which Christianity had been corrupted. " And unto them was 
given power as the scorpions of the earth have power." The 
Saracens had power to set up the Crescent instead of the Cross, 
wherever their arms were victorious, and so the Gospel candlestick 
was removed out of its place. As the scorpions slay the body, 
the Saracens have in the same manner power to destroy the soul, 
by taking away from them their Mediator and Redeemer. 

Nevertheless, their power was limited : " And it was commanded 
them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any 
green thing, neither any tree ; but only" — mark these words, which 
are in a common language, and give us evidently the meaning of 
the figures " grass of the earth, green thing, and tree ;" — " but 
only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." 
Consequently, if they had only power to hurt those who had not 
the seal of God in their foreheads, as the nominal Christians, the 
worshippers of saints, of images, and relics, the shaved heads, and 



96 COMMENTARY. 

generally all the corrupters of Christianity, it follows that they had 
no power to hurt (to force to embrace Isiarnism) the true Chris- 
tians, either old or young, represented by the grass of the earth, the 
green thing, and tree (Jer. 11 : 19 ; 17 : 8), who had been sealed 
in the seventh chapter, to be witnesses of the Lord, during the 
reign of popery. Again, " they should not kill them" (the nomi- 
nal and apostate Christians); for they are preserved for the last 
vial of the wrath of God, but it was given them " that they should 
be tormented five months;" that is, 150 years (Ez. 4:6); "and 
their torment was as the torment of a scorpion;" for they were 
obliged to apostatize, to turn disciples of Mahomet. And, though 
they were but nominal Christians, it remained in their conscience, 
after their apostacy, a sting which was striking and tormenting 
them, as " when a scorpion striketh a man," so that they desired 
to die, to be delivered from their devouring remorses, and death 
fled from them.. 

" And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared 
unto battle ;" because the Arabians are ingenious in the art of 
breaking a horse for the combat ; and because their principal forces 
consisted in cavalry. " The crowns like gold on their heads," are 
the yellow turbans, which the Mahometans wear still in our days. 
" The hair as the hair of women" are the tails with which their 
equipment is ornamented, and by which the pachas are still, at 
present, distinguished. " Their teeth were as the teeth of lions," 
to show forth their strength and invincible courage; " their faces 
of men, their breastplates of iron, the sound of their wings as the 
sound of chariots of many horses, running to battle," are as many 
characters, given by the prophet, to show that he has represented, 
under the emblems of locusts, the numerous and invincible armies 
of the Saracens rushing to the battle, out of the deserts of Arabia, 
as the clouds of locusts fall in the night upon the harvest, which 
they destroy in a moment. "The sound of their wings" is the 
image of their military movements, with their chariots drawn by 
many horses; and, for "the tails like unto scorpions," which they 
had, the prophet Isaiah (9 : 15), gives us the true meaning of this 
emblem, when he says : " The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the 
tail." Therefore, the tails like unto scorpions, represent the Koran, 
the religion of the prophet Mahomet, that teacheth lies, which was 
imposed upon the conquered, and which continued its fatal effects, 
after they had left the country. " The stings in their tails," may 
represent either the remorse which followed the apostacy, or the 
sword with which the ferocious Mussulmans forced the degenerated 
Christians to embrace the religion of their prophet Apollyon, the 
destroyer. 



COMMENTARY. 97 

Mahomet is called "the angel of the bottomless pit," because he 
was, in the hand of God, the instrumentality made use of to punish 
the apostates who had chosen another head of the Church, and had 
formed other mediators than Jesus Christ, who is alone the Head 
and Mediator of his Church. The Saracens, conducted by the 
Caliphs, were the rod of God to punish the churches, in the East 
and the West, for their unfaithfulness to the word of God. The 
Turks, their successors, under the sultans, destroyed the Eastern 
Empire and the rest of these churches, who had not repented of 
their profanation of Christianity. It is the second woe, announced 
at the end of the eighth chapter. 



Sixth Trmnpet. 

V. 13-19. "And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the 
four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel 
which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great 
river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared 
for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of 
men. And the number of the army of the horsemen, were two hundred thou- 
sand thousand : and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses 
in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of 
jacinth, and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions ; 
and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone. By these three 
was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the 
brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their 
mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, 
and with them they do hurt." 

Before explaining the emblems of the sixth trumpet, let us glance 
over the history of Mahomet and his successors. The career of 
Mahomet dates from 612, when, expelled from Mecca, his native 
country, he fled to Medina, the city of the prophet. He was born 
in 577, of illustrious but poor parents. A rich widow, named 
Chadiga, hired him to transport goods into Syria upon camels, and 
she became his wife. He said that he was inspired. He had a 
great abhorrence for graven images, and he was painfully affected 
by the degradation and irreligion of his nation, and spent whole 
months in solitude and fastings. He pretended to have every 
night interviews with the angel Gabriel ; his pretended inspirations 
and conversations with this angel, formed every day a new page of 
his Koran, which was posted up and read publicly. He was a long 
time the object of the ridicule even of his nearest relatives, and 
was obliged to escape from Mecca. But, nine years after his flight, 
he was surrounded by one hundred and twenty-four thousand Mus- 
sulmans, and he was enabled to vanquish the armies of the Jews and 

9 



98 COMMENTARY, 

Christians, united together. The Caliphs, his successors, conquered 
Arabia, Chaldea, Persia, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and Egypt. 
Afterwards, turning to the west, they overran the countries along 
the Mediterranean Sea, and took the islands of Rhodes, Cyprus, and 
Sicily ; then, passing Hercules' Pillars, they founded the kingdom 
of Granada, in Spain, and passing over the Pyrenees, they advanced 
into the centre of France, even to the walls of Poictiers, where 
Charles Martel arrested their progress in 782. 

The course of their conquests terminated in 772, when they re- 
tired to the borders of the Tigris, where they began to till the 
ground, and founded Bagdad, the metropolis of the empire of the 
Caliphs, or of the vicars of Mahomet. In 1031, the Turks Seld- 
joucids, thus named from Seldjouk, one of their sultans, took pos- 
session of Persia. Kaiem Bamrillah, one of the Caliphs, crowned in 
1057, as sultan of Bagdad, Togrulbeg, the grandson of Seldjouk; 
and from that time the Caliphs did not reign any more, except 
under the protection of the sultans, so that the . Moslems' empire 
began in 1057. The power of the sultans became soon threatening; 
but they were detained upon the shores of the Euphrates, by the 
Crusades, which commenced in 1095, and terminated at the death 
of St. Louis in 1260, or rather in 1250, at the battle of Massoure, 
in which he was made a prisoner ; and his brother, the Earl of 
Artois, killed (the last crusade of St. Louis, having had no effect, 
should not be accounted for). Every one is acquainted with the 
numerous disasters of the Crusaders, which were the accomplish- 
ment of the words, " I will kill her children with death" (2 : 22, 
23). The Turks, being loosed, at the end of the Crusades, com- 
menced their incursions under Othman I., in 1299 ; and, at the 
close of the fourteenth century, they passed the Bosphorus, under 
Bajazeth; they took possession of Thracia, plundered Greece; 
established themselves in Adrianople, and took Constantinople 
in 1453. Then, they overran Macedonia, Albania, Esclavonia, 
Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and came, in 1529, to besiege Vienna, 
where Charles the Fifth arrested their progress. It is of Mahomet 
that it is spoken, in Daniel (8 : 23-25, and 11 : 40-45), where, 
the seat of the Turkish Empire is clearly designated by these words : 
" And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace, between the 
seas in (or towards) the glorious holy mountain/' towards Jeru- 
salem the glorious and holy mountain of Zion. Now, let us exa- 
mine our text. 

When the sixth angel sounded, " a voice from the four horns of 
the golden altar" was heard, saying, " Loose the four angels which 
are bound in the great river Euphrates." The golden altar being 
the emblem of the worship which we render to G-od through the 



COMMENTARY. 99 

mediation of Jesus Christ, the voice, which comes from the altar, 
indicates that it is to avenge the purity of His worship, which had 
been polluted by the worship of the saints and images, that it is 
ordered to loose these four angels. These four angels are the 
sultans of Alep, Iconium, Damas, and Bagdad, which had been 
the seats of the chiefs of the Turks from the eleventh century, 
when they had conquered Persia and the countries along the River 
Euphrates. They had been as it were bound on the shores of this 
river, by the Crusades, which prevented their progress. But, now, 
heaven itself commands to loose them ; and these avengers of the 
worship of God, which has been polluted by the worship of idols, 
commenced their ravages in 1299. 

" They were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and 
a year, for to slay the third part of men," the Eastern Empire, 
which was the third part of the Roman Empire as it had been 
divided among the three sons of Constantino. As, according to 
the prophetic style, one day makes one year; an hour makes 15 
days ; a month, 30 years ; and one year, 865 years ; for the prophet 
employs here the word " eniauton" (one year), and not the word 
" hairos" (a time which makes only 360 years), made use of to 
indicate the number of years of existence given to a false religion. 
These different numbers, designated by "one hour," "a day," "a 
month," and " a year," being united together, make 396 years, and 
15 days. Scott supposes, with Bishop Lloyd, that the prophet 
has indicated by this number of years, the time during which the 
Turks would be permitted to torment the degenerated Christians ; 
and, according to him, the Turks commenced their ravages in 1302 
and finished them in 1698, which was the epoch of their decline. 
But it is not the meaning of the prophecy; for the prophet. says 
that they were prepared, all this time before, " to slay the third 
part of men," the Eastern Empire, by the taking of Constantinople. 
Now, according to history, Constantinople was taken the 29th of 
May, 1453 ; and Mahomet II. entered into the city the 1st of 
June. Therefore, if out of this number we take 396 years and 
15 days, we shall have, the year 1057 (Chronological Tables of 
French History, by Anquetil, 2d ed., page 148, vol. xiii.), for the 
time in which they were prepared to execute the judgments of the 
Lord. And it was precisely in 1057 that Togrulbeg was crowned 
by the Caliph of Bagdad, and became the founder of the Moslem 
Empire. It was then from that time that God prepared this empire 
to punish, in 1453, the city of Constantinople, for having conse- 
crated the worship of images in its councils, in 842 and 879. 

" And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hun- 



100 COMMENTARY. 

dred thousand thousand." It is not a definite number for an in- 
definite 5 for if we examine that their armies were from six to seven 
hundred thousand men, we may understand that, during the time 
of their conquests, from 1299 to the taking of Constantinople, in 
1453, the number of their horsemen was two hundred millions, as 
the prophet says that he heard the number of them. We have, 
now, the description of the horsemen and of the artillery by which 
they succeeded in the taking of the city. " The breastplates of 
fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone," indicate the color, red, blue, 
and yellow, of their military dress, such as the Eastern soldiers wear 
still at present. " The heads of the horses, as the heads of lions," 
show the strength, courage, and intrepidity of the horsemen ; and 
by the words " out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brim- 
stone," we see the use which they made of artillery at the siege of 
Constantinople. The Turks had already attempted, in 1396, to 
take this city ; but their efforts were unsuccessful. In this new 
attack, they were directed by an engineer from Genoa, their pri- 
soner, to make use of artillery; and the city fell. As gunpowder, 
invented by the monk Roger Bacon, and perfected by the German 
Schwartz, was unknown before the fourteenth century, the prophet 
could see only in his vision fire, smoke, and brimstone ; and the 
horses with the cannons and their carriages appeared to him to be 
the same object. Therefore, he says, that a by these three was the 
third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by 
the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power 
is in their mouth and in their tails ;" that is, in the mouth of their 
cannons, or rather in their religion ; for they killed men not only 
in the field of battle, but, everywhere they passed, they implanted 
the .pernicious and destructive religion which the Saracens had 
already propagated before them ; and this misfortune was more 
durable and pernicious than their most bloody conquests. Chris- 
tianity was entirely destroyed in those countries, and Slahometanism 
became the prevailing religion. It might be said also, that " the 
tails like unto serpents," designate the tails of the chiefs — by which 
the pachas are still distinguished — undulating in the air, when they 
were rushing to battle, and imitating the windings of the serpent. 
But it is more probable that they represent the pernicious doctrines 
of Mahometanism, like unto the poison of the serpent, and that, " by 
the heads with which they do hurt," he alludes either to their fero- 
cious chiefs, or to the Saracens, from whom they had received this 
religion, which they prescribed to the conquered. Now, let us 
hear from the prophet himself the reason for which God has sent 
upon the earth the scourges of the locusts, the Saracens, and the 



COMMENTARY. 101 

four angels, which he had long before prepared, on the shores of 
the River Euphrates. 

V. 20,21. "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these 
plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not 
worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of 
wood : which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of 
their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their 
thefts." 

The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, or 
obliged to embrace Mahometanisni, repented not of the works of their 
hands. The Roman Church, which escaped from these plagues, 
continued in her idolatrous worship of devils — deified souls of dead 
men canonized;' 1 ' and in the stupid worship of images, " which 
neither can see, nor hear, nor walk/' notwithstanding the express 
teachings of the word of God (Ex. 20 : 4, 5). "Neither repented 
they of their murders/' perpetrated by the tribunals of the Inquisi- 
tion or by the crusades against the saints of the Lord ; " nor of their 
sorceries/' of the magic power of the words of the priests in their 
superstitious ceremonies, to impose upon the minds of the ignorant 
people ; " nor of their fornication," either spiritual or natural, as 
the result of a prescribed celibacy ;f "nor of their thefts," by the 
odious traffic of the holy religion of Jesus. 

The prophet, in saying that they repented not of these bad works, 

* When we are born in the Roman Church, we do not easily understand 
that it is a sin to pray to the saints and kneel before images. We honor 
them, they say, but we do not worship them. The heathens said also: : ' we 
do not worship copper, nor gold, nor silver, nor other matters with which 
the images are made.-' The Council of Constantinople, which ordered the 
worship of images, says positively that they ought to be worshipped ; and it 
is consistent with the doctrines of the Roman Church. For, to pray to or 
kneel before images to worship them, is to adore. The worship of the saints 
is what is called here "to worship devils." By devils the Greeks under- 
stood the souls of deified men, as we are taught by Plato, explaining what 
were their functions : " Devils have been created, to be as mediators and 
agents between superior gods and men. God is not concerned with men ; 
but all the intercourse between God and men, is carried on by the mediation 
of the devils. They are messengers and interpreters, who come from God 
to men, and from men to the gods. They bring to men the presents of the 
gods, and to the gods, the prayers and homage of men." Such is the func- 
tion of the devils or demigods of the heathens. It is difficult to establish 
what is the difference between these demigods and the saints of the Roman 
Church : their worship is equally called in the book of God, " the worship 
of devils." , 

t Platina, in his history, counts twenty-two Popes who practised sorcery • 
thirteen, who were adulterers; three, who were abandoned to lewdness; 
four, who were incestuous ; eleven, who were poisoned with sodomy ; and 
seven, who favored licentiousness. 

9* 



102 COMMENTARY. 

shows us indirectly that it was to punish these crimes that the 
Lord made use of the Saracens and of the Turks to be the instru- 
mentality of his vengeance. Impenitence, when one is tried by 
the judgment of God, is a sin which shall certainly cause the ruin 
of the sinner (Am. 4 : 6-13); for God is right when he judges. 
The Greek churches did not repent after having been desolated by 
the Saracens, and the Turks came, at the appointed time, to over- 
throw their Empire, and to impose upon them the pernicious doc- 
trines of Mahomet, who, in, killing soul and body, deserved well 
the title of Abaddon, the destroyer. 

God has given the Roman Church space to repent of her forni- 
cation (2 : 21) ) and she repented not. She is preserved for the 
third woe, when the seventh angel shall sound, and shall pour out 
the last vial of the wrath of God. Now, Jesus, the angel of the 
covenant, comes, in the following chapter, to strip her of her 
usurped titles and power, and to give anew to the world the 
Bible, and with it light and liberty. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE LITTLE BOOK, OR THE REFORMATION, IN 1517. 

The Christian churches still refused, in the eighth century, to 
be overruled by the Roman bishops. But Charlemagne, having 
been crowned Roman Emperor, ordered that all the liturgies of the 
churches of his empire should be burnt, in order that the Roman 
Latin liturgy should be alone made use of, in his empire. Hence- 
forth, the churches submitted insensibly to the power of a chief, 
become powerful by the gifts of several seigniories and principali- 
ties, which Pepin and Charlemagne made to the Bishop of Rome, 
after having overcome the King of the Lombards. These lands, 
called "The Justices of Saint Peter/' were the source of the 
popes' temporal power. The feeble successors of Charlemagne soon 
permitted them to aspire to greater pretensions. The decretals, 
falsely attributed to the bishops of Rome, from Clement I. to the 
Pope Siricius, favored their ambition, and secured impunity to the 
bishops. The monks, who then infested towns and villages, 
preached everywhere the pope and his saints, and propagated 
everywhere superstition in the midst of the people, sunk already 
into the most degrading ignorance. Their success was such that 



COMMENTARY. 103 

in the eleventh century, the universal sceptre fell into the hands of 
the monk Hildebrancl, Gregory VII. 

This audacious monk dared to say, in a council, in 1076, that 
the pope could absolve an oath of allegiance ; that he could depose 
the emperors — that he only should be called "pope" — and that to 
him alone belonged the power of deciding what Scriptures were in- 
spired, and of making them canonical. The flatterers of these men, 
who style themselves " the servants of the servants of Jesus 
Christ," went so far as to say that the pope can dispense with the 
law of God and the gospel. Bellarmine says, that God has given 
him power to cause that which is sin to be no sin, and that 
which is not sinful to become sinful. That, if the pope should 
command vice and forbid virtue, the Church should be obliged to 
believe that vice is good, and virtue criminal. Stapleton, among 
others, asserts, that, ' the pope is not simply a man, but a god 
upon the earth." The pope Martin V., in the Council of Sienna, 
dared to style himself, " Holy and blessed, having a heavenly 
power, being Lord upon the earth, successor of Saint Peter, the 
anointed of the Lord, the master of the universe, father of the 
kings, light of the world, and sovereign pontiff." True, at their 
will, they could raise innumerable armies to shed blood ; the 
kings were nothing more than the vassals of the papal throne; 
the gold and silver of kingdoms flowed through an infinity of 
streams, and went to be engulfed in Rome, as in a bottomless abyss; 
the most powerful kings were trodden under foot, and their crowns 
taken away, at the will of the popes ; but, if God permitted this 
abasement of the kings, to punish them for their adulteries with 
Jezebel (2 : 20-22), this did not constitute them gods, though they 
had usurped the power of God over the minds of the degraded 
people. 

As soon as the popes had the sovereign power, the Christian 
religion was entirely filled with forms and ceremonies ; the papal 
court became the rival of the court of the King of kings ; the 
abuses were sanctioned by laws, and, in every century, new abuses 
and new dogmas were invented and consecrated. The worship of 
molten images, so long opposed by true Christians, who were then per- 
secuted as heretics, under the name of " Iconoclasts," was at last sanc- 
tioned, in councils in 840 and 879. The famous dogma of purga- 
tory was taken from the pagan ritual, and the people were taught 
that the elect were burning there in a fire seven and even ten times 
hotter than the elementary fire, until they have entirely expiated 
their sins, or until indulgences, bought with money, have delivered 
them. Thence came the dogma of praying for the dead ; of saying 
masses, and selling indulgences. It was also for that purpose that 



104 COMMENTARY. 

the feast of all the dead was instituted, in 993, though the fictions 
of the monks place its institution in 606. Confession, invented, 
in 627, by fifty-two bishops, for the monks novices, was ordered, 
in 1215, to the laymen, as the way to obtain the forgiveness of sins, 
and was sanctioned by the Council of Trent, which anathematizes 
those who should deny that Jesus Christ imposed this yoke. It is 
no longer the commemoration of Christ's death, which is made in 
the sacrament of the Lord : a monk of Corbie, Paschase Radbert, 
thought the same body was there received, which was born of the 
Virgin Mary and suffered for us. But, then, the learned Rantrain 
published a tract, in which we find these remarkable words : " The 
sacraments take the name of the things which they represent. So 
it is said that they are the body and blood of Jesus Christ, because 
of the resemblance to the things which they represent. The sacra- 
ment is called the body of Christ, as we call passover, and ascen- 
sion, the days on which these mysteries are celebrated/ ' This 
error was opposed also by John Scott, and by Raban Maure, Bishop 
of Mayence, who says, among other things : " Some one having 
imagined that in the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, is 
found the same body and blood of Christ which were born of the 
Virgin Mary, I have written against that error, and shown what 
must be believed on this subject." This doctrine, condemned also 
by the Council of Cressi, was sanctioned, in the Council of Laterari, 
in 1215, to which Innocent III. dictated that "all the substance of 
the bread is transubstantiated into all the body, and the wine into 
all the blood of Jesus Christ." Soon after, according to the dream 
of a servant, named Juliana, and at the prayer of a nun of Saint 
Martin of Liege, named Eve, to whom the Bull was dedicated by 
the pope Urban IV., a special holyday, called "Corpus Christi day," 
on which they carry in triumph this god of dough, which they 
worship and eat, was ordered to be celebrated, every year, to ex- 
piate the outrages which Jesus receives in this august sacrament. 

The celibacy of the priests was also ordered, in 1070 ; and the 
priests of Germany were constrained, notwithstanding their protes- 
tations, to abandon their wives and children. The mass, intro- 
duced in 420, arrived at perfection in 1090. In the twelfth 
century, the dogma of the immaculate conception began to be dis- 
cussed. It was, at this time, that the popes used their full power 
to canonize multitudes of saints, to which they assigned festival 
days. The miraculous lives of the saints were mostly taken from 
Greek and Latin fables. Thus, it was not to lose the feast of 
Proserpine, searching for her daughter, who had been carried off 
by Pluton, that they established Candlemas-day, in honor of Mary, 
the mother of God. In proportion as the new Pantheon of Rome 



COMMENTARY. 105 

became filled with gcds and goddesses, the papal court was also filled 
with new dignitaries of the Church. 

The cardinals, who, at first, were only priests, who had been 
stripped by the Lombards of the wealth of their churches, and who 
were admitted (incardinatus), into the diocese of Rome, became, in 
the thirteenth century, " the pivots upon which turns the govern- 
ment of the universal Church." This celestial court displayed, 
then, an oriental magnificence, and to sustain it, they invented all 
sorts of means to extort, under the names of " benefices, reserves, 
annats, dispensations, &c," the riches of the people, who were under 
their power. The impediments to marriage were first extended 
to the seventh generation ; and the priest was always ingenious 
enough to discover, that all those who were to be married, were 
relatives ; and consequently, a sum of money was exacted for dis- 
pensations. A tariff was settled and approved for the price which 
should be paid for the absolution of great, middling, and little sins. 
Not contented with having stripped the living, they found means 
to get possession of the effects of the dead. The sacrament of ex- 
treme unction had no other end than to secure to the priests free 
access to the dying, who no longer care about worldly posses- 
sions ) and, by promising them heaven, in exchange for their wealth, 
they were sure to obtain from them rich donations. 

They had even the presumption to sell heaven at auction. They 
preached indulgences, and sold them for crimes, either meditated 
or committed, asserting that money, when falling into their coffers, 
liberated souls from purgatory, and secured them access to heaven. 
The people had become children, and seemed to be unable to shake 
off the yoke under which they were enslaved. But, if the Prince 
of the covenant of grace seems to abandon men, for some time, to 
punish them for their iniquities, he will come again to extricate 
them from the pit which they have dug for themselves. For that, 
he made use of an obscure monk, Martin Luther, born at Isleben, 
in the county of Mansfeld (Upper Saxe), and professor in Wittem- 
berg. Luther opposed the shameful traffic of indulgences, in 1517. 
Pope Leon X. fulminated a bull against him, in 1520. Luther 
dared to burn it j and thus began the Reformation, foretold in the 
chapter which we have now to examine. 

"V. 1-4. " And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, 
clothed with a cloud ; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as 
it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire : and he had in his hand a little 
book open : and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the 
earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth : and when he had 
cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders 
had uttered their voices, I was about to write ; and I heard a voice from 



106 COMMENTARY. 

heaven saying unto me : Seal up those things which the seven thunders 
uttered, and write them not." . 

This mighty angel, coming down from heaven, is Jesus Christ 
himself. " He is clothed with a cloud/ '' because the decrees of 
God are veiled and hidden to the eyes of men. The rainbow, 
" which is upon his head" reminds us that he is the angel of the 
eternal covenant. He appears here, as after the flood, to promise 
better days to his servants, whom he will never abandon. In dis- 
tress, he is at our side; and when we seek after him, even when 
we have committed those disgraceful crimes, which the world never 
pardons, he is waiting for us, like a good father, for his prodigal 
son, and says : " My son, here I am." " His face was as it were 
the sun/' the sun of righteousness, which enlightens and rejoices 
our hearts; but his feet are u as pillars of fire," as a consuming fire 
for his enemies in the day of his vengeance. 

" He had in his hand a little book open." This little book open, 
is evidently the Bible, the emblem of the great Reformation of the 
sixteenth century. The book of God had long been closed, and put 
aside for popish decretals, for the legends of saints, and for the 
teachings of the doctors of the Middle Age. But now, at the time 
of the Reformation, the Bible was unchained, and translated into 
common languages. Luther, who was the instrumentality made 
use of to open it before the eyes of all men, proclaimed that it was 
by the words written in that book that we shall be judged, and not 
by the arbitrary laws of men. It is a little book, indeed, if it is 
compared with all the books of men I But, what are these volu- 
minous books of men in comparison with this one ? Men, having 
misunderstood its vivifying doctrines, put it aside, to substitute in 
its stead the doctrines which were the fruit of their thoughts and 
imaginations; and their wisdom proved to be but folly, and an 
abyss of calamities. But, at last, the Lord, merciful and gracious, 
came to strip the false prophet of his usurped power. "He set 
his right foot upon the sea (the civil power : Dan. 7 : 3), and his 
left foot on the earth (the miry clay mixed with the iron, that is, 
the papal religion united with the civil government : Ban. 2 : 33- 
45), and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth." "We see 
here, a beautiful emblem of the invisible power of God, as it was 
clearly manifested in the time of the Reformation. The powerful 
Charles the Fifth, united with the Pope and the kings of the 
earth, tried in vain to put it down, to burn the monk, Martin 
Luther, who was like a roaring lion in the assembly of the princes 
and dignitaries of the Roman Church, before whom he had been 
commanded to appear at Worms. The threatening^ of the Pope 



COMMENTARY. 107 

and of the Emperor were powerless ; because the Lord had set his 
right foot upon the Emperor, and his left upon the Pope. The 
roaring of the lion gives us the emblem of the courage and power, 
with which the Reformation was proclaimed, and carried on, not 
only by Luther, but also by all the Reformers, Melancthon, Zuingle, 
Farel, and Calvin. They were not afraid of the papal anathemas, 
called in French " Foudres du Vatican," to which the prophet 
makes evidently allusion, when he says that " seven thunders 
uttered their voices." The Papal curses are designated as the 
seven thunders, because all the persecutions in the seven periods 
of the Church, have been the work of Rome, either pagan or 
papal. It is always the same thunder, or curse ; but it is said that 
they are seven, for the seven ages of the Church. 

" When the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was 
about to write : and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 
Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write 
them not." The prophet was about to write in the prophecy, to 
take notice of the bull of excommunication, or anathemas of the 
papal court, against Luther, and all the Reformers ; but he heard 
a voice from heaven telling him " to seal up," to' keep secret these 
curses, " and write them not ;" do not mind them - for they shall 
be of no effect. Luther will mock at them, and make bonfires with 
them. How admirable is the word of God ! How fair a picture 
of what was done at the time of the Reformation ! The kings 
themselves refused to publish the bull of excommunication of the 
Pope ) the orders of the Vatican were not obeyed ; and thus the 
things uttered by the papal thunders were sealed up. Luther did 
not mind them ; for God had given him a heart and a voice to roar 
like a lion. And it shall not be as with John Huss, and Jerome 
of Prague. The opposition F of the enemies of the Lord shall be 
vain ; his word shall be proclaimed, and one hair shall not fall from 
the head of his servant, Martin Luther. 

V. 5-7. " And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea, and upon the 
earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and swore by him that liveth forever and 
ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and 
the things that therein are, and the sea. and the things which are therein, that 
there should be time no longer ; but in the days of the voice of the seventh 
angel, when he' shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, 
as he has declared to his servants the prophets." 

We have here a solemn oath, in the name of the Almighty, by 
which the angel asserts either that the Reformation, undertaken 
by Luther, shall no longer be delayed, as in the time of John Huss ; 
or rather, as it is clearly indicated by the following verse, that 



108 COMMENTARY. 

"there shall not be a time," that is, 360 years, before the destruc- 
tion of popery. This translation of the Greek " chronos cuketi 
estai," seems to be preferable, though " chronos" instead of 
"Jcairos" be made use of, for the following words, "But in the 
days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to 
sound, the mystery of Grod should be finished, as he hath declared 
to his servants the prophets." The first meaning, " there shall be 
no longer any delay," agrees very well with what precedes, to 
signify that the Reformation shall no longer be delayed ; but it 
cannot agree with what follows, viz., "the mystery of God," which 
shall be "finished" at the sounding of the seventh trumpet; that is, 
the mystery of iniquity, spoken of by St. Paul (2 Th. 2 : 3-10), 
the great apostacy of the man of sin, the great Antichrist, shall be 
finished, and the kingdom of God shall be set up, as he hath de- 
clared by his servants the prophets (Dan. 2 : 44 ; 7 : 26-27), before 
"a time," which according to the prophetic style, makes 360 years, 
should be accomplished, in reckoning from the moment of this 
solemn Reformation. Now, if such be the meaning of these words, 
" oti chronos ouheti estai," — and the following words show necessa- 
rily that it is so — the mystery of popery treading under foot the 
holy city, shall be finished before 1877, which is the sum of 1517, 
the epoch of the Reformation, and of 360, the number indicated 
by a prophetic " time." 

V. 8-10. "And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, 
and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel 
which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the 
angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, 
Take it, and eat it up ; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in 
thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's 
hand and ate it up ; and it was in my mouth sweet s as honey: and as soon 
as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter." 

This little book, the Bible, so long closed during the Dark Ages, 
is now open. We are invited, as well as the prophet, to take the 
little book, to search the Scriptures, and to receive from its words 
our daily spiritual food. But, unless the Holy Ghost open our 
eyes and renew our hearts, we cannot know how sweet it is in the 
mouth. It is sweeter than honey and honeycomb, says David, and 
more precious than pure gold and rubies ; but it is a book closed 
for worldly men, however learned they may be in other respects. 
Their eyes cannot be enlightened by the light which it sheds ; their 
hearts cannot enjoy the peace which it gives to repentant sinners; 
nor can they conceive the hopes, which the soul, acquainted with 
the vanities of the world, derives from its heavenly teachings. To 
appreciate this book, it is not enough to read it; we must "eat it 



COMMENTARY. 109 

up;" we must thirst to come to the living waters that we may be 
satisfied. Mark the expression, made use of by the prophet ! He 
does not say, "Read this book;" but, "eat it up." It is in this 
manner that Jesus does not say to meditate upon the adorable 
mysteries of his birth and death ■ but he says, " Except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
you." A cold and weak reader of this book is unable to feel the 
delights of the word of God ; the book is yet closed for him, as for 
a man who cannot read. 

But how this little book, sweet in the mouth as honey, could be, 
at the same time, bitter in the belly ! It was by the persecutions, 
which the devil excited against Christians. If it was delightful 
for the Reformers and their followers to possess this book, to search 
out the eternal truths, and find there the condemnation of the 
popish errors, by which they had been long enslaved, their lives 
were not exempt from bitterness ; they were surrounded with cruel 
enemies ; they were stripped of all they possessed ; they were torn 
from the bosom of their families, and abandoned to the tortures of 
the Inquisition, and burnt at the stake \ so, this book so sweet in 
the mouth for its heavenly teachings, was bitter in the belly for 
millions who died for the testimony of this book. In the eyes of 
men, they were looked upon as madmen for losing everything they 
possessed, and life itself, for this book, rather than obey the teach- 
ings of men ; but they were wise before God ; they had found the 
pearl of great price in this book, and were glad to sell all they had, 
to buy the field in which this treasure was hid. Those alone who 
have been enlightened by the Holy Ghost, can appreciate the word 
of God, and abjure a religion invented by men to embrace that of 
the gospel (see the letter to the Church in Philadelphia, 3 : 7-13). 

V. 11. c; And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many 
peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." 

We see from this verse that the course of the events is inter- 
rupted to prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and 
tongues, and kings; that is, before the ten barbarian peoples of dif- 
ferent tongues, who, after having destroyed the Roman pagan 
empire, raised up out of its ruins ten kingdoms, which have been 
subjected to the same head, the pope, who may be looked upon as 
the emperor of this new empire, the image of the first. Until now, 
the prophet has followed the course of the events from the civil 
wars of the Roman Empire to the time of the Reformation. And, 
as the prophet has, now, to speak of a new state of things — of the 
papal persecutions, of the progress of Protestantism, and of the de- 
struction of popery and of the kin«;s, its supporters — the prophet 

10 



110 COMMENTARY. 

receives here the order to leave off the course of events, which he 
shall resume in the fourteenth chapter, to explain what was the con- 
dition of the Church from the time of the overthrow of the Roman 
Empire, and how it was that the Christians were so long crushed 
down under foot by their enemies. Therefore, the three following 
chapters are like an episode, or digression, to explain how it is that 
the little book is bitter in the belly \ and the prophet, after having 
shown how Satan succeeded in setting up popery to destroy Chris- 
tianity, will continue to explain the progress of the Reformation, in 
the fourteenth chapter, as it may be proved by the words, " And 
I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
lasting gospel 7 \ (14 : 6). 



CHAPTER XL 

THE TWO WITNESSES THEIR DEATH AND RESURRECTION — ENG- 
LAND BECOMES PROTESTANT FRENCH REVOLUTION IN 1792. 

It seems that the prophet should go on explaining the progress 
of the Reformation ; but, as he has to speak, at the same time, of 
the destruction of the papal league with Satan and the kings of 
the earth against Protestantism, it was necessary for him to show, 
by a digression, as would do the most faithful historian, how it 
was that the antichristian Roman Empire arose out of its ruins, 
after having been destroyed by ten barbarian peoples. Therefore, 
he resumes the history of the Church up to the time, when Chris- 
tian Churches, freed from the yoke of the heathens and enriched 
by the favors of the emperors, abandoned the simplicity and purity 
of the gospel, to introduce into the Church strange doctrines and 
worship. Hence originated the enmity of the nominal Christians 
against the true Church of Grod, — the crusades of popery against 
Protestantism. 

True Christians, as well as the temple and the altar wherein 
they worship, are measured by the word of God, as by a reed or 
yard, to test whether they are sound in faith and worship; but 
nominal Christians have no word of Grod to be measured by : they 
are but Gentiles, pagans, to whom the court, which is without the 
temple, is given, without test of their faith and worship ; and the 
holy city (the true Church) shall they tread under foot 1260 years ; 
verses 1, 2. 



COMMENTARY. Ill 

True Christians are but like two witnesses, bearing testimony to 
the word of God, and charging nominal Christians with apostacy 
from the faith. They are to be, like Joshua and Zerubbabel, the 
lights of the world, during the time of this great apostacy, and 
the restorers of the spiritual temple of God. They are clothed 
with all power to avenge themselves from the persecutions of their 
enemies ; verses 3-6 (see the description of the holy city, 21 : 10- 
27). 

When they shall have finished their testimony, they shall be 
killed ; and their dead bodies shall lie unburied in the streets of the 
great city of Rome, in France, Piedmont, and England, three days 
and a half (three years and a half) at the Revocation of the Edict 
of Nantes, by Louis XIV. ; verses 7-10. 

After this persecution, the witnesses rise up and ascend up to 
heaven, that is, to the throne of England ; and by this revolution, 
indicated by an earthquake, the tenth part of the city (England, 
one of the ten kingdoms subjected to popery) fell from popery, 
and turned Protestant; verses 11-13. 

The second woe is past; the Turks shall no longer be the instru- 
mentality of the scourges of God. But the third woe, — the French 
Revolution of 1792, — cometh quickly, at the sounding of the 
seventh trumpet, in which are contained the seven vials of the 
wrath of God, and by which the "dead," that is, the nominal 
Christians, shall be judged, and the papal league destroyed, that all 
the kingdoms of the earth should be the Lord's; verses 14-19. 

Before explaining the seven vials of the wrath of God, which we 
shall find in the sixteenth chapter, according to the order which these 
calamities occupy in history, the prophet answers this question, which 
occurs naturally to our minds : " How is it that the two witnesses com- 
posing the true Church of Christ, have been so long trodden under 
foot by an apostate church, and how was this papal league against 
Christianity accomplished V He answers, that it was the work of 
Satan, and shows what was his opposition to Christianity during 
the first three centuries, — what was his fury, when he was cast out 
of the temples with his angels, after the victories of Constantine 
over the supporters of Paganism, — how he destroyed the Roman 
Empire by casting out of his mouth (Paganism) barbarians, as 
waters, over this empire, supposing that the conquerors would 
oblige the conquered to take their laws, and gods, and worship, 
and destroy Christianity in this manner, — how he was wroth with 
the Church, when these barbarians, instead of destroying Chris- 
tianity, were registered among the nominal Christians, and left 
thus true Christians the opportunity of professing the Christian 
religion, which was revered by the barbarians themselves, — and 



112 C O M M E N T A R Y . 

how, after having been thus defeated, he raised up out of its ruins 
the Roman pagan Empire, or an image of it, by uniting together 
the civil power with the apostate church, whose chief had power 
to exercise the authority of the kings before them, and had power 
not only to teach his pagan religion, but yet to cause that as many 
as would not submit themselves to his power and profess his reli- 
gion, should be killed. Such is the subject of this digression, 
whose emblematic language we are now to examine in a more 
minute manner. 

V. 1-3. " And there was given me a reed like unto a rod : and the angel 
stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them 
that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, 
and measure it not ; for it is given unto the Gentiles : and the holy city shall 
they tread under foot forty and two months. And. I will give power unto 
my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and 
threescore days, clothed in sackcloth/' 

The temple, being the figure of the Church, and Jesus Christ 
being the altar, upon which the Church oilers up her sacrifices ; to 
measure those who worship therein signifies, that those who belong 
to the true Church, shall be examined and judged by the word of 
G-od, which is this reed, or fathom, by which they are measured ; 
and that those alone are Christians who worship in the temple, in 
the name of Jesus, who is the altar upon which the people of God 
are permitted to offer their sacrifices. Those who do not worship, 
according to the word of God, in his temple and at the altar built 
up by G-od, are . but nominal Christians. They are out of the 
temple with idolaters. Nevertheless, they shall take to them- 
selves alone the Christian name ; they shall invade the temple of 
G-od, and hold all the ecclesiastical offices, during 1260 years; 
whilst true Christians, who shall be only as two witnesses against 
a multitude, shall prophesy, clothed in sackcloth and afflicted, at 
seeing the city of God invaded by the Gentiles and polluted by 
idolatry. 

Mark that the prophet makes use of different emblems to desig- 
nate the same number; when he speaks either of nominal Christians, 
of idolaters, or of true worshippers. In the first case, the 1260 
years are designated by " forty-two months •" that is, by the course 
of the moon, which overrules the night; because these nominal 
Christians live in the darkness of Paganism, of which the moon is 
the emblem. In the second case, the same number is indicated by 
" a thousand two hundred and threescore days," according to the 
course of the sun ; because true worshippers are children of light, 
and there is no darkness in them. 



COMMENTARY. 113 

These verses synchronize evidently with the seventh chapter, in 
which the one hundred and forty-four thousand servants of God 
have been sealed ; and we shall fix very soon the epoch, in which 
the two witnesses began to protest against the errors, which were 
introduced into the Church. 

V. 4-6. " These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing 
before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth 
out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies : and if any man will hurt 
them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, 
that it rain not in the days of their prophecy : and have power over waters 
to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as 
they will." 

The two restorers of the Jewish Church, after the captivity of 
Babylon, Joshua and Zerubbabel, are represented by the prophet 
Zechariah (ch. 4), under the emblem of two olive trees ; in the 
same manner the two witnesses are represented under the same 
emblem, to show that they shall be, like these two men of God, full 
of faith and of the Holy Ghost, whose gifts are represented under 
the emblem of oil, in order that the two witnesses should be like 
burning lights, to enlighten those who shall live in the darkness of 
this unfortunate age, and to restore, at the appointed time, the true 
Church of God, 1. " If any man will hurt them," because they bear 
witness to the word of God, " fire proceedeth out of their mouth," 
at their request, as at the order of Elijah (2 Kings 1 : 10-12), 
" and devoureth their enemies ;" for the blood of the elect of the 
Lord shall not be shed with impunity : God will be their avenger. 
2. " These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the 
days of their prophecy," that is, they have, like Elijah (1 K. 18), 
and Elisha, the power to shut heaven, that no man should under- 
stand the consoling doctrines of the grace of God, which, like a 
heavenly dew, refresh the soul and prepare it to inherit eternal life. 
The Roman Church may boast of many learned men, who have 
written many large volumes about religion j but their writings, de- 
prived of the living streams of the grace of God, are but empty 
clouds or broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 3. Not only 
have these two witnesses the power that Elijah and Elisha had ; 
but they have still, like Moses, " power over waters to turn them to 
blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they 
will." The waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and 
tongues, upon which the great whore sitteth (17 : 15), and the 
" earth" is the emblem of the papal religion. Therefore, the blood 
of these peoples and nations is shed, and the papal countries are 
smitten, at the will of the two witnesses. So it was that the Bohe- 

10* 



114 COMMENTARY. 

mians, to avenge the blood of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, 
destroyed the papal armies, which were sent against them, — that 
Louis XYI. was beheaded, with many noblemen and priests, in 
1792 and 1793, to avenge the blood of the witnesses, shed by the 
dragoonings of his great grandfather, Louis XIV. — that torrents of 
blood were shed by Napoleon, and especially in the battles of 
Montenotte and Marengo, at the foot of the same mountains, where 
the prophets of the Lord, the Waldenses, had been hunted and 
destroyed (see 16 : 5-7, where the bloody battles of Montenotte 
and Marengo, are evidently alluded to). Grod is of long forbear- 
ance, but finally he will punish ; and the great Napoleon was the 
scourge, by which the papal kingdoms were smitten with plagues, 
to avenge the blood of millions of his saints, which they had shed 
on St. Bartholomew's Lay, and in all their crusades against them. 

V. 7-10. "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast 
that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and 
shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the 
street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where 
also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people, and kindreds, and 
tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and 
shall not surfer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell 
upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts 
one to another ; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon 
the earth." 

We shall see, in the following verses, the precise time when the 
witnesses finished their testimony. We must inquire here who are 
these two witnesses, — what is the beast that ascendeth out of the 
bottomless pit — what is the great city, which spiritually is called 
Sodom and Egypt, — and how it was that these two prophets tor- 
mented them that dwelt on the earth, that is, who had all power 
granted them by the papal religion, the miry clay of the great image 
of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2 : 31-45). 

1. Who were the witnesses ? As, in the prophetic style, a king 
represents ordinarily a succession of monarchs, or a form of govern- 
ment, a witness must also represent, not one single individual, but 
a succession of men, who, during the specified time, bear witness 
to the truth. Perhaps the prophet makes mention of two witnesses, 
only because one witness is not sufficient to prove a fact, according 
to justice (Deut. 17 : 2-7). But it is more probable, that these 
witnesses are : 1. The Albigenses and Waldenses, as primitive 
Christians, having preserved faith in its purity. 2. The Reformed 
Christians, who, by abandoning the popish errors, bear witness to 
the truth, and condemn those, who continue in the same errors. 



COMMENTARY. 115 

The two witnesses are the " two breasts" (churches), built upon the 
wall (Gentiles) to surround the holy city, Jerusalem, that is, 
Christianity during the Middle Age, to the setting up of the king- 
dom of God (Song 8 : 10. See the description of the wall, 21 : 10- 
19). 

We have an evident proof, as it shall be shown hereafter (16 : 4 
-7), that the Waldenses are reckoned among the faithful Christians, 
who are called witnesses ; for an angel declares that " they have 
shed the blood of saints and prophets," in the very mountains in- 
habited by the Waldenses. Again, the facts, which we shall have 
to expose in the following verses, prove that the Protestants are 
also reckoned among the witnesses. Therefore, if the prophet 
means to designate by the two witnesses, not a succession of true 
servants of Jesus Christ, but servants of a different origin, these 
witnesses are the Albigenses and Waldenses, as Primitive Chris- 
tians, and the Protestants, as Reformed Churches from popery. 

We know that to these primitive Christians, the Albigenses espe- 
cially, have been given the titles of " heretics"" and " Manicheans;" 
but we know also that it has been the old practice of the papist 
votaries to asperse the character of those they wished to destroy, 
and that they had always at hand a hundred and one crimes to im- 
pute to them, in order that they should be made their easy victims. 
The infidel Gibbon vindicates the Paulicians* or Albigenses from 
the imputations of heresy, saying that in the state, in the Church, 
and even in the cloisters, there was a secret succession of disciples 
of Paul, who protested against the papal tyranny, held the Bible 
as the rule of faith, and purged their belief from all the visions of 
the Gnostics' theology. 

The Pope Innocent VIII., having sent one of his legates among 
the Waldenses and the rest of the Albigenses, with instructions 
to engage the King Louis XII. to destroy them entirely in his do- 

* About the end of the seventh century, Greek Christians, who refused to 
embrace the new doctrines, introduced into the Church, were mistaken for 
Paulicians, accused to be Manicheans, though, according to Photius, they 
abhorred Manes and his doctrines. Consequently, when the persecution was 
excited against the Paulicians, these Greek Christians were obliged to aban- 
don their country, and came to settle, some in Italy, where they were called 
" Patarini," from the name of the place, called " Pataria," in the city of 
Milan 5 the others settled in the surrounding country of Marseilles in France, 
where they preserved the Greek liturgy, even a long time after Charlemagne 
had obliged all the churches to make use of the Latin ritual. Hence the 
Albigenses were charged with the errors of the Manicheans, though the con- 
trary was proved by the report of the monks themselves, about the condem- 
nation of those who were burnt in Orleans, in 1017, and who declared that 
they had been taught their errors by colporters sent by the Albigenses. 



116 COMMENTARY. 

minions, without even listening to the deputies, who might be sent 
to him, this king answered in a manner which does him honor : 
" Had I to make war/' he said, " with the Turk or with the Devil, I 
would listen to what he could have to say in his favor. " Conse- 
quently, the Waldenses addressed their justification to the king; 
and commissaries were sent to examine what was the state of 
things among them. Here is the report, as it is given by history : 
" Having made a strict inquiry about their manner of living, we 
could not find the least shadow of the crimes which are imputed 
to them. On the contrary, it seems that they keep religiously the 
Sabbath day, that they baptize their children according to the 
practice of the Primitive Church, and that they are thoroughly in- 
structed with the doctrines of the creed of the apostles, and in the 
law of God." 

In hearing this report, the king said with anger to the pope's 
legate : " By the holy mother of G-od, these heretics, whom you 
urge me to destroy, are better men than you and myself." Soon 
after, Louis XII. died, and every one knows how much they had 
to suffer hereafter. Pope Innocent VIII. ordered a crusade 
against them in 1655 ; the inquisitors, the monks, and the priests, 
were ordered " to exterminate them holily, and to crush them like 
asps;" the magistrates, under peril of losing their dignities, were 
obliged to sustain the inquisitors, to whom the command of the 
crusade was intrusted. The Marquis of Pianesse penetrated into 
their villages, at the head of two regiments commanded by monks ; 
they pursued the Waldenses from cavern to cavern ; they hung the 
women, naked, upon trees, and sprinkled them with the blood of 
their children. 

Again, in July, 1685, Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes, 
in exclaiming : " There are Protestants no longer !" He succeeded 
in engaging the Duke of Savoy to join his troops to those of France 
to exterminate the rest of the Waldenses, and to destroy entirely 
their churches. As soon as Louis XIV. had given the Protes- 
tants the order either to leave France or to turn papists, from six 
to seven hundred thousand Protestants chose to abandon every- 
thing in their country rather than comply with popery. Then, 
new orders prevented them from leaving France; but dragoons 
were sent to take possession of their houses, to oppress them by 
tyranny, until they should comply with popery, or be ruined and 
utterly destroyed. 

This persecution of Louis XIV., at the revocation of the Edict 
of Nantes, was a calamity for France. And, as historians reprove 
bitterly the conduct of this king, and the fanaticism of the Roman 
Church for that persecution, a bishop, the Abbot Frayssinous, at- 



COMMENTARY. 117 

tempts to vindicate tliera froin the accusation of fanaticism, in a 
discourse entitled " Religion vindicated from the reproach of fana- 
ticism/' in which he says : "All ranks of the kingdom congratu- 
lated Louis XIV. on having revoked the Edict of Nantes ; because 
it was necessary to annihilate the Protestant party, which desired 
to form a republic, to raise up its churches and obtain its former 
privileges. Louis XIV. yielded to the general wishes of the 
nation ) it was supposed that they would be restrained by fear and 
prevailed upon by persuasion." So, we have from the pen of a 
popish bishop the illustration of these words of the prophet : "And 
they that dwell upon the earth (those who are powerful by the 
favors of popery) shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and 
shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets 
tormented them that dwelt on the earth/' in condemning their 
errors and idolatry. 

Charles Weiss, in his history of the French Protestant Refugees, 
says on that subject : Let us now see, not merely what the great 
authorities of the Church of Rome, but what the great lights of the 
French nation, the most illustrious men of France, who hold the 
highest place among her sons in learning, literature, eloquence, and 
philosophy, who are yet unsurpassed, and one of them unap- 
proached, in all the gifts of intellect, the purest and brightest 
names to be found in the annals of Romanism, the undimmed glory 
still of the French language, and justly and highly admired for 
their genius wherever their works are known ) the most moral, the 
most enlightened and most favorable representatives of popery that 
all history can furnish ; let us see now what these renowned per- 
sons thought of the hideous immoralities and cruelties of the per- 
secution, of which we have given so brief a sketch ; of the great 
achievement of the grand monarch ; and then, let us ask ourselves, 
" Are our Wisemans, and Newmans, and Irish bishops, more 
enlightened, more tolerant, and more Christian in spirit than were 
Massillon, Flechier, Bourdaloue, Arnault, and Bossuet,* in the 
time of Louis XIV. ? and if not, or, if they fall short of, instead of 
reaching, the stature, in these respects, of their predecessors of the 
seventeenth century, how can we say, as we are apt to say, that 
popery has changed its character?" 

Our first extract, with the purpose in view, shall be from the 
letters of Madame de Sevigne, that perfect female creation of 
French society, whose exquisite sense, taste, wit, and judgment in 

* It is somewhat consoling and cheering to find both Pascal and Fenelon, 
the only two real Christians that we can recollect among the illustrious men 
of the Church of Rome, quite silent, perfectly dumb, on the subject of the 
Huguenot persecution. 



118 COxMMENTARY. 

all things pertaining to a court-world, made her the most amiable 
of the amiable in that world. Writing to her cousin, she says : — 
" Father Bourdaloue is going, by order of the king, to preach at 
Montpellier, and in those provinces where so many people have be- 
come converts, without knowing why. Father Bourdaloue will tell 
them why, and make good Catholics of them. The dragoons have 
hitherto been excellent missionaries; but preachers are now re- 
quired to finish the work." And in another letter, speaking of the 
act revoking the Edict of Nantes : "No I'* she exclaimed, " never 
was anything so noble as all that it contains ; never has any king 
done anything so memorable." 

The famous Chancellor, Le Tellier, on affixing the great seal to 
this fatal act, declared he would never seal another, and blasphe- 
mously ejaculated : "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation !" 

Massillon, too, celebrated the great victory of Louis XIV. over 
heresy. " To what an elevation," he breaks out, " did his zeal for 
the Church, the prime virtue of sovereigns, who have received the 
sword and power to maintain her altars and defend her doctrine, 
raise him ! Specious reasons of state ! in vain you opposed to 
Louis the timid views of human wisdom ; the monarchy enfeebled 
by the evasion of so many citizens, and commerce stagnated by the 
privation of their industry, or the furtive removal of their wealth. 
Perils inflamed his zeal. The work of God fears not men. He 
was convinced that he was strengthening his own throne by over- 
throwing that of error. The profane temples are destroyed \ the 
pulpits of sedition are thrown down ; the prophets of lies are 
banished from their flocks. Heresy has fallen under the first blow 
from the arm of Louis ; it has disappeared, and is reduced to hide 
itself in the darkness whence it issued, or to cross the seas, and 
carry with its false gods, its rage and malignities into foreign 
countries." 

The enthusiasm of Flechier on the same subject, is expressed in 
equally glowing terms. In a discourse addressed to the French 
Academy, he exclaimed, alluding to the destruction of the Temple 
of Charenton : " Glorious ruins ! the noblest trophy France has 
ever seen. Triumphal arches and statues raised to the glory of the 
king illustrate it not more than this temple of heresy demolished 
by his piety. This heresy, which thought itself invincible, is 
entirely conquered ; and its vanquisher has gained such strength 
from this conquest, that the very thought of it strikes a panic into 
the hearts of his enemies. The fable of the strangled hydra can 
alone give an idea of the victory we so much admire." 

Bossuet, still the wonder of French literature and eloquence, 



COMMENTARY. 119 

spoke in the same strain. "Profoundly moved/' says he, "with 
so many marvels, let us pour out our hearts in praise of the piety 
of Louis. Let our acclamations rise to heaven, whilst we proclaim 
to this new Constantine, this new Theodosius, this new Marcian, 
this new Charlemagne, that which the six hundred and thirty 
Fathers proclaimed formerly in the Council of Chalcedon : You 
have fortified the faith • you have exterminated the heretics ; this 
is the work worthy of your reign, this gives it its distinctive cha- 
racter. By you, heresy is no more. God alone could accomplish 
this marvel. King of heaven, hold in thy keeping the King of the 
earth ! This is the prayer of the churches, this is the prayer of 
the bishops." 

We should at present accompany M. Weiss, with his refugees, 
into the foreign countries, where they met not only with a cordial 
and fraternal reception, but with every kind of aid and encourage- 
ment, and with special advantages and privileges not accorded to 
natives; but we cannot contemplate the success of these happy 
fugitives till we have cast a look back on their wretched brethren 
whom they left behind them. 

All our knowledge of these persecuted Christians, from the dra- 
goonades and galleys to the latter part of the reign of Louis XVI., 
is, to be sure, of a negative kind. It furnishes, nevertheless, a 
dreadful picture of suffering on one side, and of unrelenting 
tyranny on the other. Protestantism was, in fact, blotted out of 
existence, as far as the law could do it, in Prance. Without 
churches, without pastors, without the legal rights of marriage and 
of sepulture, the Reformed were a scattered and hunted flock, who 
could only worship God, as they expressed it themselves, in the 
desert. In some w T iid tracks of the Cevennes, and some gorges of 
the Lower Alps, almost inaccessible to a cruel police, who made 
them its prey, a good number of them (the rest conforming them- 
selves to their position, had got the real Pariah character) still con- 
tinued, in defiance of danger, to assemble together, from time to 
time, for the purposes of worship. Their pastors, few, poor, and 
obscure, but devoted men, whose names have not been recorded on 
the earth, traversed these regions, incurring truly apostolic hard- 
ships, and at intervals, months apart, celebrated the Lord's Supper 
in rocks and caves, and dens of the earth, and exhorted to Chris- 
tian virtue and patience those who flocked by stealth to hear them, 
and returned to their own homes in a like clandestine manner. 
This state of things lasted more than half a century. The venera- 
ble and most excellent Malesherbes, whose green old age preserved 
all the warmth and more than the enthusiastic benevolence of 
youth, was the first whose voice was heard in favor of the persecu- 



120 COMMENTARY. 

ted race. Ruhlieres followed his noble example, and presented a 
petition in their behalf, from which we shall borrow an extract, to 
Louis XVI. :— 

" The twentieth part of the natives of the kingdom/ ' says this 
petition, "retained by force shut up within its frontiers, remain 
without religious worship, without civil professions, without the 
rights of citizens, without wives, though married, without heirs, 
though fathers. They cannot but by profaning the public worship 
on the one hand, or by disobeying the laws on the other, either be 
born or marry, or live or die. More than a million of Frenchmen 
are deprived in France of giving the names of wives and legitimate 
children to those whom the law of nature, superior to all civil in- 
stitutions, recognize as such. More than a million of Frenchmen, 
have lost, in their own country, rights which all men enjoy in all 
countries, civilized or savage, and which in France are not denied 
to malefactors, branded with the most infamous crimes. We de- 
plore the state of the Catholics in England ; they may be unhappy, 
but they are not marked with infamy. England has never gone so 
far as to inflict on all their families the desolating names of bas- 
tardy and concubinage. Their children may inherit their property. 
Their noble families are not reduced to the impossibility of proving 
their nobility otherwise than by clandestine acts, inadmissible 
before the tribunals ; and if they find their condition intolerable, 
they are permitted to emigrate ; the ports of the three nations are 
open to them." 

This petition had the effect of procuring for the Reformed the 
rites of marriage, baptism, and Christian burial. The Revolution 
afterwards placed them on an equality with all Frenchmen ; but 
this equality, though proclaiming religious liberty, was nearly as 
hostile, as soon appeared, to everything that bore the name of re- 
ligion, as popery is to the gospel. To Napoleon, it was, that 
French Protestants owed the present respectable and permanent 
establishment of their creed ; and that this great man was induced 
to do them this justice as much from conscientious reasons as from 
political motives, we think apparent from the energetic answers he 
made to a deputation of Protestants who came to thank him for the 
benefits they had received from his government : — 

"I take this opportunity," said he, "of declaring to the pastors 
of the Reformed Churches my firm determination and will to main- 
tain religious liberty in its fullest extent. The empire of the law 
ceases where the indefinite empire of conscience commences. 
Neither prince nor law can regulate the latter ; and if any of my 
family who may succeed me, deceived by the dictates of an unen- 
lightened conscience, should attempt to do so, I devote him to 



COMMENTARY. 121 

public execration, and authorize you to give him the name of 
Nero," — Extracted from the New York Observer. 

For the same reason, there was joy and a solemn procession to 
the Church of St. Louis in Home, when the St. Bartholomew's 
day's slaughter was known in the papal palace ; and when two 
hundred thousand Protestants had been slaughtered in Ireland, in 
1641, according to the instructions contained in a Papal bull, which 
had been received there previously; and Saint Dominic was ca- 
nonized in return of the utter slaughter of the Albigenses, who had 
been a prey to the papal excommunications, from 1187 to 1215, 
when their cities were reduced to ashes, and the Count of Toulouse, 
Raymond VII., conducted, naked, with a rope about his neck, to 
the gates of the church of Valence, where he was beaten by a 
deacon, in punishment of the pretended murder of a monk. Add 
to all these massacres, that only four hundred Waldenses escaped 
with their pastor, Henry Arnaud, by seeking refuge in Holland ; 
that James II. of England, had also been prevailed upon by the 
Jesuit, Peters, his confessor, to destroy Protestantism in his king- 
dom ; so that the two witnesses of the Lord would have then been 
overcome, and utterly destroyed, had not the Lord come to rescue 
them from their enemies : " from the beast that ascendeth out of 
the bottomless pit." 

A " beast" represents a worldly kingdom, as the four beasts, 
which Daniel saw coming up from the sea (the emblem of the civil 
commotions), represent the four great monarchies, which have suc- 
ceeded each other from Nebuchadnezzar to our days. This beast 
does not come up from the sea ; but from the bottomless pit (the 
destruction of the Roman Empire), which was opened by Boniface 
III., and out of which came the Dark Ages (9 : 1-3) and the 
incursions of the Saracens. It came out of a corrupted Church, 
" out of the earth ; and he had two horns (powers) like a lamb 
(Jesus Christ), and he spake as a dragon" (devil, 13 : 11). This 
beast represents, then, popedom, which had its origin in the corrup- 
tion of the churches, who had abandoned the simplicity and purity 
of the apostolic doctrines. The union of the Church and State 
enabled the popes to make war against the witnesses, to overcome 
and kill them. Their dead bodies were carried upon carts, and 
thrown into the rivers, or laid unburied in the streets of the great 
city of Rome, which spiritually is called " Sodom," for its impuri- 
ties, and " Egypt," for the yoke of bondage under which the 
people of Glod are groaning; and where also our Lord was crucified, 
having been delivered to the Jews by one of its governors. The 
kingdoms subjected to the papal yoke, are called the streets of the 
great city of Rome, which is taken for the seat of all these king- 

11 



122 COMMENTARY. 

doms, as it was before the seat of all the provinces of the pagan 
empire. It was throughout all these papal kingdoms that the 
witnesses of the Lord were hunted and killed like wild beasts, and 
left unburied in the fields, to be the food of the birds of prey. 
But their murders will avail nothing ; for, behold, the martyrs of 
the Lord will soon rise up, at the voice of the living God. 

V. 11-14. "And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God 
entered into them, and they stood upon their feet ; and great fear fell upon 
them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying 
unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud ; 
and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great 
earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were 
slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave 
g ] ory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third 
woe cometh quickly.''' 

The entire ruin of the witnesses seemed to be inevitable. The 
powerful Louis XIV. had said, "There are Protestants no longer;" 
they were destroyed without mercy in France, Piedmont,, and 
James II. of England was threatening to destroy them also in his 
kingdom. But a more powerful than Louis XIV. said unto thein, 
three years and a half after this general conspiracy against them, 
in November, 1688, " Come up hither (to the throne of England). 
And they ascended up to heaven (to the throne) in a cloud (in a 
mysterious manner, in a political storm), and their enemies beheld 
them. And the same hour there was a great earthquake (a great 
revolution) ; and the tenth part of the city (the tenth papal king- 
dom, England) fell (from popery), and in the earthquake there were 
slain of men (names of men, according to the Greek) seven thou- 
sand;" that is, seven thousand names of men were blotted out 
from the list of the papal subjects, holding offices in England; for 
there was no shedding of blood in that religious revolution. "And 
the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven;" 
that is, the others, fearing to lose their offices and dignities, gave 
glory to the God of heaven, by abandoning popery, to take the 
word of God and turn Protestants. 

Nothing could give us a more striking image of the religious 
revolution, which took place in England when the Prince of 
Orange became master of its throne, than this picture of the 
prophet. The Prince of Orange, having vanquished James II. at 
the battle of the Boyne, in Ireland, and having formally acknow- 
ledged Protestantism as the foundation of the constitution of his 
kingdom, kept in check the princes who were supporters of papacy. 
As the Waldenses, who had escaped from the slaughter of their 



COMMENTARY. 123 

brethren, had sought a refuge in the Low Countries, where they 
joined his army, he showed them his gratitude by enabling them 
to return into their own valleys, under the command of their 
pastor, Henry Arnaud. They attacked suddenly the French and 
Savoy army, which consisted of ten thousand men* and after 
having defeated them several times, they succeeded in driving 
them from their mountains. It is so that " the Spirit of life from 
God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet." Their 
enemies, who thought to exterminate them, beheld them, but 
could not resist the invisible power of God ; and, from that time, 
there has been no outward persecution against Protestants ; they 
enjoy their civil and religious liberty. The twelfth and thirteenth 
verses of the fourteenth chapter correspond to this passage. For 
that reason, a voice was heard, saying : " Write, Blessed are the 
dead (the papists, Eph. 2 : 1) which die in the Lord from hence- 
forth (who abandon popery to turn Protestants), that they may 
rest from their labors (persecutions); and their works do follow 
them," their persecutors being henceforth unable to destroy the 
churches which shall be built up by the preaching of the gospel. 

We may infer, from the verses which we have just examined, 
that the two witnesses finished their testimony at the Revocation 
of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685 ;— that they were slain and left 
unburied in the streets or kingdoms overruled by popery, during 
three years and a half, to the reign of the Prince of Orange, when 
Protestantism became the religion of England. Therefore, the 
witnesses, who were sealed (chapter 7), from 313, during the peace 
enjoyed under Constantine and some of his successors, to the time 
of the invasions of the barbarians, which commenced in 395 and 
continued to the utter destruction of the Empire, began to bear 
witness to the truth about 425. Now it was, in fact, about this 
time that Christianity was banished from the cities \ the temples 
were invaded by the worship of saints, images, and relics; and the 
heresies of Arianism, Donatism, and Pelagianism had almost de- 
stroyed the true faith in Christ throughout the Empire. It was, 
then, at that time, that the servants of the Lord began to bear 
witness against the errors and idolatry which invaded the temple 
of God. 

The first of the three woes, announced after the overthrow of 
the Roman Empire (8 : 13), began, as we have said, in 606, and 
finished at the end of the Crusades, in 1260. The second com- 
menced about 1300, with the incursions of the Turks, and 
finished,* as it is stated here, when England had become Pro- 

* The Turks finished their ravages in 1618, 



124 COMMENTARY. 

testant. But there is an old quarrel between God and the great 
city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt (18 : 24); and the third 
woe, — the French Revolution of 1793, — will come quickly to 
decide ultimately this affair. 

V. 15—19. "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices 
in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of 
our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the 
four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their 
faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God 
Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come ; because thou hast taken to 
thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and 
thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, 
and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to 
the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest 
destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened 
in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and 
there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and 
great hail." 

We have in this passage a succinct exposition of all the plagues, 
by which the seat of the beast shall be afflicted, at the pouring out 
of the seven vials, which are contained in the seventh trumpet. The 
" dead/' spoken of here, are those " which destroy the earth," and 
which God shall destroy. Therefore it is spoken of a spiritual 
death, of the papal nations, which are dead in their sins (14 : 13 ; 
Rom. 6 : 13 ; Ej)h. 2 : 1), and upon which the vials of the wrath 
of God shall be poured out. 

It is said (10 : 7) that, when the seventh angel shall begin to 
sound, the mystery of God, about the great apostacy of the Roman 
Church, shall be finished ; and the prophet says here that " The 
temple of God was opened in heaven (the empire), and there was 
seen in his temple the ark of his testament." He does not say 
that the final triumph of the Church shall be then accomplished ; 
bufc only that the ark of his testament shall be seen in his temple, 
that the liberty of worship shall be granted to his Church. The 
final triumph of the Church shall be achieved only after the pouring 
out of the seventh vial, which is called the vintage of the wrath of 
God (14 : 18-20; 19 : 7-21). Now, it shall be proved by the ex- 
position of the seven vials, emblematically represented by " the 
harvest and vintage" (14 : 14-20), that the French Revolution of 
1793, with its wars, is the third woe announced at the sound of 
the seventh trumpet. 

According to Bucholcer and Sigonius, the Emperor Justinian 
published the code of his institutions in 533, and, by a decree, 
gave the Bishop of Rome the pre-eminence over all the other 
bishops. But, then, the bishops denied him this papal power. If 



COMMENTARY. 125 

we add to 533, the 1260 years of existence which are allowed to 
popery, we have precisely 1793, the epoch of the French Revolu- 
tion, which, by a decree in the preceding year, interdicted the papal 
religion, and granted the liberty of worship to any other religious 
denomination. So, a French law, which was without effect, abo- 
lished another law which had, in vain, granted to the Bishop of 
Rome the supremacy over his colleagues. Had we the precise date 
of the epoch in which popery had its existence, we could easily de- 
termine the epoch of the destruction of the papal league with the 
devil and the kings of the earth (16 : 13, 14), and the final triumph 
of the Church. Its spiritual power dates from 606 ; but its tem- 
poral power dates only from 756. Therefore, popery will still con- 
tinue to 2016, if its existence is reckoned only from the time when 
the popes united the temporal to the spiritual power. But it is 
rather as a spiritual prince that the man of sin is spoken of; and 
if we have given the true meaning of the sixth verse of the tenth 
chapter, " there should be time no longer," popery must be de- 
stroyed, in 1866 ; for it should not exist to 1877. The seventh 
trumpet shall sound only, with all its strength, at the time of the 
utter destruction of the Antichristian league, as it is described in 
the nineteenth chapter. It is for that reason, that the saints and 
angels sing there, as in this passage, and in the fifteenth chapter, 
when the vials are given unto the angels, saying, " The kingdoms 
of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his 
Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." 

At the first sounding of the trumpet, in 1793, the civil constitu- 
tion of the clergy was decreed, and Louis XVI. had previously 
been obliged to grant the Protestants the liberty of worship. The 
temple of God was thus open in heaven, that is, in the kingdom, 
which had been, at all times since Charlemagne, the supporter of 
the papal pretensions ; and the liberty of worship was granted 
also, for some time, to all the people subjected to the papal yoke, 
wherever the French armies were victorious. The temple of God 
was opened in this manner throughout the provinces of the ancient 
pagan Roman Empire ; and there was seen everywhere the ark of 
his testament, which was a token that the presence of God was 
anew manifested in the midst of his people. But, as " the temple 
was filled with smoke (the emblem of his wrath) from the glory of 
God and from his power, no man (none of the papal kingdoms) was 
able to enter into the temple (to shake off the papal yoke and turn 
Christians), till the seven plagues of the seven angels were ful- 
filled" (15 : 8). From that time, the papal colossus is but a 
corpse ; its anathemas are no longer apprehended, and it stands 
only for the indifference of men. When Charles X., and after him 

11* 



126 COMMENTARY. 

Louis Philippe, attempted to give him life, they were precipitated 
fromt heir thrones. New events will soon teach us what shall be 
the recompense which Napoleon III. shall receive for having 
raised up again the papal throne from its ruins. 

The calamities by which France and the other papal kingdoms 
were afflicted, from the scaffold of Louis XVI. to the defeat of 
Waterloo and the invasion of France by the armies of the united 
powers of all Europe, are the storms foreboded by the lightnings, 
voices, thunderings, earthquake, and great hail. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE ENMITY OF SATAN AGAINST THE CHURCH — HOW HE AT- 
TEMPTED TO DESTROY CHRISTIANITY. 

Who is the true author of the persecutions, — and how is it, that, 
after the destruction of the Koman pagan empire, there are yet 
other persecutions, in consequence of which, a third woe is an- 
nounced, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, to afflict, with 
plagues, the same countries, which composed formerly this Roman 
Empire ? The prophet answers : 1. That Satan, the master of the 
Roman Empire, is the author of the persecutions; verse 1-6. 
2. That having been defeated with his angels, the supporters of 
Paganism, by the victories of Constantine, over Maxentius and 
Licinius, verse 7-12, he destroyed the Roman Empire, which had 
become Christian, by casting out of his mouth (Paganism) swarms 
of barbarians, like waters, to destroy the Church, supposing that 
the barbarians would oblige the conquered to. submit to their laws, 
and to worship their gods y verse 18-17. Satan, having failed in 
his attempt, was wroth with the Church, figured by the woman, 
and he raised up out of its ruins the Roman pagan empire, or an 
image of it, as it is described in the thirteenth chapter. It was 
necessary, that the prophet should show us this second existence of 
this empire, before giving us the emblems of the calamities, con- 
tained in the seventh trumpet, by which it ought to be destroyed. 
The triumph of the witnesses, who have now ascended up to the 
throne of England, is the beginning of the decline and decay of 
popery. The seventh trumpet announced the presence of the Lord 
in his temple, and the triumph of his Church shall be accomplished 
at the pouring out of the seventh vial, called " The vintage, the 



COMMENTARY. 127 

great day of the Lord, the battle of Armageddon, and the marriage 
supper of the Lord." 

V. 1-6. " And there appeared a great wonder in heaven ; a woman clothed 
with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 
twelve stars : and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained 
to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and be- 
hold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns 
upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and 
did cast them to the earth : and the dragon stood before the woman which 
was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod 
of iron : and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the 
woman fled into the wilderness, w T here she had a place prepared of God, 
that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore 
days." 

These verses show us the old enmity between the serpent and 
the woman, and between his seed and her seed (Gen. 3 : 15), ex- 
emplified under the emblems of two wonders in heaven, the image 
of the Roman Empire. The Church, as the bride of the Lamb, 
and the mother of Christians, is represented under the emblem of 
a " woman clothed with the sun," intimating that Christians have 
put on Christ, the sun of righteousness, which is imputed to them, 
" The moon under her feet" is the emblem of Paganism overcome 
by Christianity; "and upon her head a crown of twelve stars," 
represents the doctrine of the Gospel, taught by the twelve apostles, 
and the crown of heaven which Christians shall inherit. Her cries 
and "travailing in birth, and paining to be delivered," are the 
emblems of the long expectation of the Jewish Church, for the 
coming of Messiah, and of the afflictions of the Christian Church, 
in bringing forth new Christians in the midst of cruel persecutions. 

On the other side, "a great red dragon," who is the old serpent, 
called the devil and Satan (verse 9), stands " before the woman, 
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child-, as- soon as 
it was born." He has " seven heads," which are seven mountains, 
on which the city, where he has his seat, is built. They are also 
seven kings, indicated by the " seven crowns," which represent as 
many forms of government (17 : 9-12). The " ten horns" repre- 
sent the ten barbarian nations, by .which the Roman Empire was 
destroyed, and the ten kingdoms, which they raised up out of its 
ruins. These barbarians, baptized in the pale of the Roman 
Church, and professing unanimously allegiance to the papal throne, 
formed a new empire, which is called "the image" of the first 
(13 : 14, 15); and, here, "the tail" of the red (bloody) dragon; 
Because its chief is a "prophet that teacheth lies." (Is. 9 : 14-17.) 



128 COMMENTARY. 

" His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast 
them to the earth/' is the emblem of popery, which drew the 
bishops of the western part of the empire into its apostacy, and 
caused them to be worldly men and nominal Christians. 

" And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations 
with a rod of iron." This man child, that the mystic woman 
brought forth, is Jesus Christ, the son given unto us, whose name 
is: u Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting 
Father, the Prince of Peace" (Is. 9 : 6). He was to rule all nations 
with a rod of iron, to submit them to the throne of David, his 
Father; but, when the mystic woman was ready to be delivered, 
two years before the birth of Christ, the Roman Empire conquered 
Judea, and the red dragon stood thus before the woman. The Jews 
refused to have him to reign over them ; they asked that he should 
be crucified. Therefore, the man child was devoured by the dragon, 
who bruised "his heel" (Gen. 3 : 15), not his life, because he had life 
in himself, and power to take it again by rising up from the dead ) 
and so u the man child was caught up unto God, and to his throne," 
and the Church was left, as a widow, obliged to flee " into the 
wilderness," to escape from the pagan persecutions. She was 
obliged to live solitary in the wilderness, not only during the reign 
of paganism, but it was her condition that, after having been de- 
livered from her bondage, she should be obliged to flee again into 
the same wilderness, " where she has a place prepared of God, that 
they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore 
days." Mark here that the reckoning is again made in prophetic 
days, because it refers to the true Church, enlightened by the sun 
of righteousness (Ez. 4:6). It is evident, that the wilderness into 
which the Church fled after the death of Christ, is not the same as 
the place she has prepared of God, and of which it is spoken in the 
fourteenth verse. This passage, gives us the picture of the condi- 
tion of the Church in the Roman pagan empire, from the birth of 
Christ to the victories of Constantine; and it synchronizes with the 
churches of Ephesus and Smyrna (2 : 1-11), and with the first 
five seals (6 : 1-11). 

Y. 7-12. " And there was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought 
against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed 
not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great 
dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which 
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels 
were cast out with him. 

" And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and 
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the 
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God 
day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by 



COMMENTARY. 129 

the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inha- 
biters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, 
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." 

Until now, the Church has been travailing in birth, with cries, 
to bring forth Christians in the midst of cruel persecutions. But 
now the deliverance of the Lord is at hand. There is war in 
heaven (the Empire) between Christianity and paganism. Michael 
(who is equal to God, Jesus Christ himself) and his angels (the 
army of Constantine, composed of Christians) fought for Chris- 
tianity against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels (the sup- 
porters of paganism, Maxentius and Licinius) fought for paganism, 
and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in 
heaven. Therefore, after ten bloody persecutions, and especially 
that of Diocletian, which continued ten years, the great dragon, 
Satan, who deceived our first parents, and deceiveth the whole 
world, young and old, learned and ignorant, was cast out, with his 
angels, into the earth; his gods, priests, augurs, captains, and 
emperors, were cast out; the place of his gods was no longer 
found in heaven, nor their altars in the temples. His priests, 
augurs, and pontiffs were stripped of their rich and pompous 
ministry of impostures and deceptions, and his emperors were 
overthrown from their throne : " and every mountain and island 
were moved out of their places ;" all the civil and religious offices 
and dignities passed from the heathens to the Christians. 

After that victory of Christianity over paganism, the prophet 
u heard a loud voice saying in heaven (the empire), Now is come 
salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our Lord, and the 
power of his Christ." The Christians, supposing that the reign 
of Jesus Christ had come, maifested their joy and gratitude, and 
attributed their victory, not to the valor of Constantine, but to the 
blood of the Lamb, and to the patience of the martyrs. They had 
cause to rejoice, for they were delivered from the fury of the 
heathens, who ceased not to accuse them of committing the most 
heinous sins in their secret assemblies; to be the cause of the 
scourges of the famine and pestilence, by which the Empire was 
desolated ; and to have burnt the palace of the Emperor at Nico- 
media. These false accusations, which caused the Diocletian per- 
secution, in which their brethren were slaughtered, and which 
were heard, day and night, by Jesus Christ, their God, had, at 
last, put an end to his forbearance, and, in his wrath, he had cast 
down the dragon and his angels ; for his martyrs " loved not their 
lives unto the death f* they chose rather to die than to deny their 
Master and abandon his word (compare this passage with the letter 



130 COMMENTARY. 

to the Church in Smyrna, 2 : 8-11, and with the fifth and sixth 
seals, 6 : 9-17) : for that cause, he delivered them from their 
enemies. 

" Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them !" 
Rejoice, empire, freed from the bondage of Satan ! Eejoice, ye 
inhabitants of this empire, become Christian ! Enjoy, in peace, 
the liberty which the Lord, the Captain of your salvation, has 
given you ! But, " woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the 
sea !•' Woe to those who shall inhabit the Empire, when the feet 
and toes of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar shall be " part of 
potter's clay, and part of iron" (Dan. 2 : 31-45), that is, when the 
earthly religion, popery, shall be united with the civil powers, 
represented here by the " sea," the emblem of the kingdoms of 
this world. Woe, then, to the inhabitants of the kingdoms, 
raised up from the ruins of the empire, in which the spiritual and 
civil power, — the earth and the sea, — shall be in the hands of 
Antichrist ! For the papal persecutions shall be more cruel than 
the pagan, in which your brethren were slaughtered. " For the 
devil is come down unto you, having great wrath; because he 
knoweth that he hath but a short time," 1260 years, which are 
but an instant, in comparison with the eternal torments which 
await him. These words, " the devil is come down unto you, 
having great wrath," indicate that, when the Church and State, — 
the earth and the sea, — shall be united together, the devil will 
make use of all his stratagems of fury and cruelty to devour the 
saints of the Lord. He will have at his command, armies to 
exterminate the seed of the woman, and covetous and cruel monks, 
scattered throughout the cities and villages, to hunt the servants 
of the Lord, and destroy them in the torture and at the stake of 
the Inquisition. But, until he has prepared this masterpiece of 
cruelty, he will invent some other means to deprive the Church of 
her temples, of the Christian dignities and privileges, and to oblige 
her to fly into the wilderness to escape from his fury. 

V. 13-17. " And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he 
persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the 
woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the 
wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and 
half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his 
mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be car- 
ried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth 
opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out 
of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to 
make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of 
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 



COMMENTARY. 131 

Though the description of the " man child" (verse 5), cannot be 
applied to any one but Jesus Christ, it may be said that it is ap- 
plied by the prophet to every Christian, born of God by faith in 
Christ, and especially to Constantine, the instrumentality made use 
of to deliver his Church. " When the dragon saw that he was cast 
unto the earth, he persecuted the woman. " Two years after the 
fall of paganism, Arius denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, and 
taught that the Holy Ghost is not God. This heresy, which de- 
stroys the foundations of Christianity, took away the peace out of 
the Church. It was condemned as a heresy, or proclaimed by the 
councils, as the true doctrine of the Church, according as it was 
condemned or maintained by the emperors ; and, at the beginning 
of the sixth century, Arianism had become the predominant reli- 
gion in many countries of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Neverthe- 
less, it is to be noticed that, as soon as Justinian had promoted, by 
a decree, the Roman bishop to the supremacy over his colleagues, 
this heresy fell, at the same time, and appeared again in 1531, to 
take from the Reformation what was lost by popery. Servet was, 
in the Reformation, the instrumentality made use of, to infect it, 
as Arius had been in the primitive Church. When the devil is 
turned out from a stronghold, he invades as soon another. The 
following year, in 316, the Donatists disturbed also the peace of 
the Church, and Pelagius and Nestorius came soon after, as well 
as the Collyridians, who deified the Virgin Mary, and worshipped 
her as the Queen of Heaven. The Emperor Julian came in 362, 
and opened again the temples of paganism ; and, in his quality of 
philosopher, he began a persecution of a different nature from the 
bloody ones, supposing that contempt and secret oppression would 
accomplish what the bloody persecutions of the pagan emperors 
had been unable to accomplish. These heresies undermined the 
fundamental doctrines of Christianity; the temples were invaded 
by molten images ; prayers were addressed to the saints, and Satan 
was again the god of the empire. About 425, the Church of Jesus 
ceased to be an assembly of servants of Christ : her members scat- 
tered everywhere in the cities and villages, and in the valleys of 
Piedmont, held no office either in the State or in the Church, in- 
vaded by Satan's dependants. The Church was carried upon the 
wings of Providence, as with " the wings of a great eagle/' and fled 
into the wilderness, to live there in a secret obscurity, and receive 
the spiritual manna from the hand of the Lord, as the seven thou- 
sand men of old, who did not kneel before Baal. 

The devil, fearing that the Church would escape from destruc- 
tion in living in obscurity, " cast out of his mouth (paganism) water 
as a flood after the woman (barbarians after the Church, 17 : 15), 



132 COMMENTARY. 

that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood f that is, 
that the hordes of barbarians, overrunning the country, in which the 
name of Jesus was known and adored, might oblige the conquered 
to receive their laws and worship their gods, and destroy entirely the 
Church of the Lord. But he was mistaken in his expectation. 

" The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth 
(the worldly religion opened her pale), and swallowed up the flood 
(baptized these barbarians and incorporated them into the Church) 
which the dragon cast out of his mouth," out of idolatrous 
countries. In that manner, the Christian name was held in honor 
among them, though they were ignorant of the doctrines of the 
gospel, and the Church of the Lord was enabled, under this shadow 
of Christianity, to profess freely the doctrines of true Christianity. 
Then, u the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make 
war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments 
of Grod, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 

We may infer from the means which the devil employs to de- 
stroy the Church, that she had already fled into the wilderness, 
when the Roman Empire was invaded by the barbarians. And, 
it is evident also that, when the witnesses had ascended up to the 
throne of England, they were no longer living in the wilderness. 
They enjoyed civil and religious privileges ; they held offices in 
the state and church ; and the gentiles did not tread any longer 
under foot the holy city, either in England or in the countries where 
Protestantism had been definitively introduced. Consequently, it 
was about 425, that the Church fled into the wilderness, to pro- 
test, in sackcloth, against the overwhelming errors and idolatry. 
The devil having failed to destroy the Church with the flood of his 
barbarians, cast out of his mouth, taken for the idolatrous religion, 
of which he is the author, he went to make war with the scattered 
remnants of her children : and to find them out in their most secret 
retirement, and in any condition, here is, in the following chapter, 
the masterpiece which he invented, and which we have, in advance, 
denominated " the kingdom of Antichrist." 



COMMENTARY. 133 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE MASTERPIECE OF SATAN UNION OF THE STATE AND 

CHURCH, Y. 1-10 THE EMPIRE OF ANTICHRIST, V. 11-17 

THE NUMBER 666, V. 18. 

I. The State. 

V. 1-4. "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up 
out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten 
crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which 
I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and 
his mouth as the mouth of a lion : and the dragon gave him his power, and 
his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded 
to death ; and his deadly wound was healed : and all the world wondered 
after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto 
the beast : and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the 
beast ? who is able to make war with him V 1 

The sand of the sea, upon which the prophet stood, represents a 
convenient place from which he could contemplate the revolutions 
of the empires of the earth. 

The four great monarchies, which were to succeed one another, 
from Nebuchadnezzar to the reign of Jesus Christ, are represented 
by the prophet Daniel (7 : 3-27), under the emblems of beasts : 
that of the Chaldeans, under that of a lion ; that of the Medes and 
Persians, under that of a bear ; that of the Greeks or Alexander, 
under that of a leopard ; and that of the Romans, under the em- 
blem of a dreadful and terrible beast, diverse from the others, and 
having ten horns (the emblem of strength and power), which are, 
he says, ten kings that shall arise out of this kingdom ; and an- 
other, figured by another little horn which came up among them, 
shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, being a 
king-priest. These beasts, or kingdoms deprived of the knowledge 
of the true God, u rise up out of the sea," which is the emblem of 
the commotions of the empires of the earth. 

It is evident that all the emblems of the beast, spoken of in this 
passage, are the same as those of the fourth beast of Daniel, repre- 
senting the Roman Empire. And, when it is said that the beast 
was " like unto a leopard, and his feet as the feet of a bear, and 
his mouth as the mouth of a lion," the prophet shows us that 
this beast represents the monarchy, which succeeded to that of the 
Greeks, to that of the Medes and Persians, and to that of the 

12 



134 COMMENTARY. 

Chaldeans ; that it was like to that of Alexander by the rapidity 
of its conquests; to that of the Medes and Persians, by its solidity; 
and to that of Nebuchadnezzar, by its strength and bravery. 
Therefore, that it united the rapidity of the first by its conquests, 
the solidity of the second, and the strength and bravery of the third. 

The beast had " seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns 
ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy;" that is, 
"the Roman Church, the mistress and mother of all the churches" 
(17 : 5), blasphemously called " the Christian religion," while it 
persecuted and destroyed Christianity and its professors. "The 
seven heads" are mountains, on which sitteth the great city, which 
reigneth over the kings of the earth (see 17 :9-14); and these 
mountains are " the mounts Palatinus, Aventinus, Coelius, Capito- 
linus, Esquilinus, Quirinalis, and Viminalis," upon which Rome 
sitteth. The prophet adds, "there are seven kings," seven crowns 
upon his heads (12 : 3), or forms of government : namely, kings, 
consuls, decemvirs, tribunes, dictators, emperors, exarchs or dukes : 
five are fallen, and one is (emperors), and the other is not yet come 
(exarchs) and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 
" Having ten horns," which are ten kings, or kingdoms, which 
shall arise out of the ruins of the Roman Empire, after having de- 
stroyed it ; they are, 1st, the Franks, a people from Westphalia ; 
2d, the Goths, divided into Ostrogoths, or Eastern Goths, living 
in Thracia, and into Visigoths or Western Goths ; 3d, the Bur- 
gundians, a people from the countries about the entrance of the 
Vistula River ; 4th, the Anglo-Saxons, who settled in England ; 
5th, the Alains, who had settled in Spain, where they were de- 
stroyed in 418 ; 6th, the Vandals, who having given their name 
to " Andalousia," a corruption from Vandalousia, were obliged to 
abandon Spain, and went to Africa ; 7th, the Suevi, who settled in 
Portugal ; 8th, the Huns or Tartars, who having ravaged, as the 
Lombards, the North of Italy, settled in the islands scattered in the 
Venetian Sea, or Pannonia; 9th, the Lombards, in Italy; and 10th, 
the Heruli, a people from Prussia, settled in Italy, with the Lom- 
bards and Ostrogoths. Germany was inhabited by men of every 
one of these nations ; and, for that reason, the inhabitants were 
called " Allmans" (all men), that is, men of all nations. 

" And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great 
authority." The dragon, or Satan, is the prince of this world, and 
he has all power over men, covetous of riches and grandeur. The 
city of Rome, in which he had his seat, in its renowned capitol, 
had long reigned over the world. Satan gave it, for the seat of 
this new empire, which the prophet saw rising up out of the sea, 
and besides this, he gave it " great authority," such as may be ob- 



COMMENTA 11 Y. 135 

tained by superstition, fanaticism, imposture, lying wonders and 
infernal policy. " And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded 
to death :" this deadly wound cannot be an emblem of idolatry, 
destroyed by Constantine, and healed by popery; for the question 
is not of the head of the "beast," but of one of his seven heads, 
representing the seven forms of government of the Roman Empire : 
and this head, wounded to death by the barbarians, was that of 
the emperors, under Momillus, called by derision " Avgitstulus." 
But " his deadly wound was healed," not by the title of emperor, 
which was given to Charlemagne, in 800 ; but by the ten barbarian 
peoples, who had destroyed it, and who, with the ancient inhabi- 
tants, established ten kingdoms out of its ruins, as it is indicated 
by the " ten crowns," which are upon the horns of the beast. The 
prophet will soon tell us how the wound was healed ) but, as the 
explanation of this master-piece of Satan is long, he tells us before- 
hand, that "all the world wondered after the beast :" all carnally- 
minded men, all nominal Christians, and children of rebellion, 
astonished at Satan's master-piece, abandoned Jesus and his word, 
to worship the dragon, who gave unto the beast power, riches, reli- 
gion, and infernal policy. They worshipped also, the beast, the 
civil power of the ten new kings, whose unchristian laws they 
obeyed rather than the word of God, saying : " Who is like unto 
the beast ? Who is able to make war with him ?" Mark, that we 
have seen only the corpse of the beast with his ten horns, and 
ten crowns. The prophet will tell us, now, how Satan gave him 
life, and that formidable power, which all the world contemplated 
with astonishment, without seeing that this wonderful work was 
nothing else than a league of the State and Church, combined to 
destroy the liberty of the people, and to rule over them with tyranny. 



II. Union of the State and Church. 

V. 5-7. " And there was given unto him a mouth, speaking great things 
and blasphemies j and power was given unto him to continue forty and two 
months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme 
his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was 
given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and 
power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." 

"There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and 
blasphemies." This mouth is that of the little horn (power, king), 
spoken of by Daniel (7 : 8, 20, 25). The words, which proceed 
out of the mouth of God, are the fundamental doctrines of the 
religion of God. Therefore, when it is said (12 : 15) that the 



136 COMMENTARY. 

" dragon cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman" 
(a deluge of barbarians after the Church) ; the word u mouth" is 
taken for paganism, the religion of Satan. It is not said here, 
whether this mouth, or religion, which was given the ten kingdoms, 
which rose up out of the ruins of the Roman Empire, belonged 
either to God, or to Satan ; but the great things and the blasphe- 
mies, spoken by the mouth, show us that it is the mouth of the second 
beast, who " had two horns like a lamb (two powers like Jesus 
Christ, the spiritual, and temporal), and he spake as a dragon," or 
Satan (verse 11). This mouth was " speaking great things and 
blasphemies," such as to boast to be " vicar of God, — to be clothed 
with the power of forgiving sins, — to open or shut heaven at his 
will, — to form with some dough the same Son of God, who was born 
of the Virgin Mary, — to entitle oneself f Holiness' — God on earth 
— the King of the kings of the earth, being above the word of 
God, and having power to order that vice should be virtue, and 
virtue, vice." These kings, to whom such a religion was given, 
received power to continue forty and two months ; that is, 1260 
years, as it is indicated (12 : 14) under the emblems of a time 
(a year, making twelve months), and times, and half a time (Dan. 
7 : 25) ; that is, three years and a half, which make, according to 
the revolution of the moon, 1260 years. 

Not only this mouth speaks great things and blasphemies against 
God and his name, but it is said that the beast opened also his 
mouth, to " blaspheme his tabernacle (the emblem of his Church), 
and them that dwell in heaven," who live in the kingdoms formed 
out of the provinces of the empire, and who refuse to worship 
(obey) the beast, and profess his idolatrous religion. But it was 
given unto him to make war with the saints (Christians, 1 Cor. 
1:2; Eph. 1 : 1), and to overcome them : and power was given 
him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations ; that is, over all 
the different nations of barbarians, who had destroyed the Roman 
Empire. But how did they blaspheme the Church of God, and 
the Christians who dwelt in their kingdoms ! They charged them 
with imaginary crimes ; " they are," the Jesuits say, " discontented 
people and enemies of their country; they wish to overthrow the 
throne and the altar; and to exterminate such heretics is to offer 
to God the most agreeable sacrifice. The State and the Church, 
must be set free from such pestiferous enemies." So, they blas- 
pheme the tabernacle (the Church) of God and the Christians, who 
" dwell in heaven" (in the kingdom), without receiving its religion. 
They promise heaven, indulgences, to the wild savages, who are 
ready to slaughter the servants of the Lord. The murderer, 
Dominic, was canonized for having caused the destruction of the 



COMMENTARY. 137 

Albigenses. It was the moutli of the false prophet, which ordered 
the slaughter of the saints, with whom it was given to the beast 
(the civil powers) to make war. Pope Innocent VIII. ordered the 
crusade against the Waldenses ; Gregory XIII. placed in the 
Vatican a picture, under which was this inscription : " The sovereign 
pontiff approves the carnage of Coligny." He ordered a solemn 
procession from St. Peter's Church, to St. Louis, and stamped 
medals to perpetuate the remembrance of St. Bartholomew's Day. 
It was a bull of Clement VIII. which armed the Irish, and caused 
the massacre of two hundred thousand Protestants. The Jesuit 
Peters, was the confessor of the persecutor James II. of England ; 
the Jesuits, Letellier and Lachaise, directed the conscience of 
Louis XIV., and the Cardinal of Birague was his counsellor. The 
Dominican friar, Torquemada, confessor of the Queen of Spain, 
Isabella, when grand-inquisitor, prosecuted, in four years, sixty thou- 
sand persons, more than four thousand of whom, were burnt alive, 
as heretics. Philip III., naturally mild and good, being spectator 
of an auto-da-fe (act of faith), pitied the fate of the unfortunate 
men who were abandoned to the flames, and he shed tears. The grand 
inquisitor took offence at the tenderness which he showed for their 
misfortune, and he did not blush to require of this prince, that he 
should be bled, and that his blood should be burnt by the execu- 
tioner. The coming of the kings of Spain to the throne, was com- 
monly celebrated by pompous autos-da-fe, which were for the people, 
formed, from infancy, according to the will of these bloody men, 
festival days, as were, for the heathens, the combats of gladiators ; 
— such are some of the bitter fruits of the masterpiece of Satan : 
" The union of State and Church/ ; 



III. Vengeance of the Lord. 

V. 8-10. " Ariel all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose 
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the founda- 
tion of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth 
into captivity shall go into captivity : he that killeth with the sword must be 
killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." 

" All that dwell upon the earth (who do not mind heavenly 
things and the word of God, as those who dwell in heaven), shall 
worship him," that is, shall admire and obey this constitution of 
the State, united with an apostate and worldly Church. But it is 
because their names are not written in the book of life of Jesus 
Christ, whose death was decreed, from the foundation of the world, 
for the ransom of the elect. Though the mouth was speaking great 

12* 



138 COMMENTARY. 

things, and power was given unto the beast over all kindreds, and 
tongues, and nations, — over France, England, Ireland, Germany, 
Spain, Portugal, and Italy, — there were, among all the inhabitants 
of the earth, some faithful, dwelling in heaven, minding heavenly 
things, who did not worship the beast, or admire the great things 
spoken by the mouth, which was given him. They were this small 
number of men called " obstinate heretics ;" because they refused 
to admire and obey the beast as the multitude ; and they were the 
elect, whose names had been written in the book of life of the 
Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. These servants of 
the Lord, had a soul, conscience, and a God ; and they chose the 
most cruel death rather than a base apostacy, and the liberty of 
the Lord, rather than the shameful bondage of Satan, though its 
fetters would be made with gold and enriched with precious stones. 
Kings may easily lead them into captivity and kill them ; Jezebel 
may say to Ahab : " Arise, eat bread, and let thine heart be merry : 
I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth" (1 K. 21 : 7) ; nominal 
Christians may enlist among Crusaders to slaughter them, or rejoice 
at the sight of their agonies in these bloody festival days, called 
" auto-da-fe." Here is what the Lord says, if they have an ear to 
hear : " He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity : he 
that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword." 

From the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the dragoonings 
by which it was followed, Louis XIY. saw all calamities fail upon 
his kingdom, and his great grandson, Louis XVI., brought his head 
to the scaffold. The wars among the popes themselves ; their wars 
of thirty years with Germany; the excommunications of the kings; 
the millions of crusaders destroyed in the East; the torrents of 
blood shed by Napoleon, in France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, 
were as many plagues, which the Almighty brought upon these 
people, to avenge the blood of his martyrs, and there is yet to come 
the vintage of his wrath, which will bring to an end the kingdoms 
of the earth. The elect know that they have a powerful avenger 
in heaven : therefore, they have patience in persecutions and suf- 
ferings ; and their faith triumphs in spite of their executioners. 

Until now, we have seen only the constitution of the civil and 
religious powers, united together to make war with the saints : we 
have now to examine a second beast, which is as the soul of the 
first, and which is spoken of by Daniel, as "the little horn of the 
fourth beast, diverse from the first, being a king-priest (Dan. 7 : 
20), and whose look was more stout than his fellows." 



COMMENTARY. 139 



/. Antichrist — his description. 

V. 11. "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he 
had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." 

A beast is a monarchy without understanding, and enemy of the 
word of God (Dan. 7 : 23). This second beast does not come up, 
as the others, out of the sea, the emblem of civil revolutions, but 
"out of the earth," the miry clay, mixed with the iron (civil power), 
of the feet and toes of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 
2 : 31-45), which represents a worldly corrupted religion, teaching 
commandments of men (see the Church of Pergamos, 2 : 12-17). 
This beast, which comes out of a worldly religion, " had two horns 
like a lamb," like Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who took away 
the sins of the world. A horn, in the prophetic language, is the 
emblem of strength and power. Therefore, this beast has two 
powers, as Jesus Christ, who has a spiritual and a temporal power; 
but, notwithstanding that, "he spake as a dragon," the devil or 
Satan (12 : 9); that is, with the same pride, tyranny, cruelty, and 
teaching the same idolatry, and lying wonders, to deceive the 
world. Now, these characters describe perfectly, the Bishop of 
Rome, universal bishop from 606, and temporal prince from 756, 
when the King Pepin, gave him the Ravenna's exarchate : Charle- 
magne gave him also the kingdom of the Lombards, and Louis the 
Pious ratified in his behalf the possession of the Roman State ; so 
that the principalities of the Heruli, Ostrogoths, and Lombards, 
are the three horns (powers or kingdoms), which fell " before the 
little horn that had eyes (an infernal policy invented by bishops 
and Jesuits), and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look 
was more stout than his fellows" (Dan. 7 : 20). We have seen pre- 
viously what are the great things spoken by the popes ; we know 
what works of destruction were accomplished at their command ; 
how the book of God has been proscribed, and the Bible readers 
tormented in dungeons, and burnt at the stake ; and how the wor- 
ship of pagan devils (souls of dead men deified), has been again 
established under the names of canonized saints, under the patron- 
age of which, the temples, cities, and kingdoms have been placed, 
as they were formerly under the pagan demigods. Therefore, 
popedom is the beast spoken of here; the pope is the "man of 
sin, the son of perdition," who sitteth in the temple of God, as God, 
showing himself that he is God (2 Th. 2 : 4). Now, what was the 
power of the beast ? (See the description of Antichrist, at the end 
of the seventeenth chapter.) 



140 COMMENTARY. 



//. His Power. 

V. 12, 13. " And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, 
and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first 
beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so 
that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of 



It is known. by everybody that the popes have claimed the 
power over the whole world, after this fair reasoning : " Jesus 
Christ gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; whoever 
gives the container, gives also the things contained in it ; now the 
earth is contained in the heavens ; therefore all the earth was given 
to Saint Peter; and, by him, to his successors." Having such 
titles to the possession of the whole world, the popes never lost 
any opportunity to exercise this chimerical power before the kings, 
who were looked upon as their vassals. It was in the presence of 
the kings of Spain and Portugal that the papist inquisitors burnt 
their subjects; it was in the presence of the kings of France, 
England, Germany, and Piedmont, that the popes ordered crusades 
to exterminate their subjects; in the presence of the kings, they 
extorted the money of the subjects of their kingdoms; they 
enforced upon them the keeping of their fasting and festival days, 
and forbid or permitted such marriages as they pleased. The tribu- 
nals themselves were subjected to their orders ; and kings, as well 
as their subjects, were exposed to their excommunications. There- 
fore the second beast (popedom) exerciseth all the power of the 
first beast (civil powers) before him. Again, he " causeth the 
earth and them which dwell therein to worship (obey) the first 
beast, whose deadly wound was healed." These words may signify 
that they preach obedience to the kings, who are looked upon by 
the popes as " kings by divine law," when they have received 
their crowns at their hands. But they signify rather that the 
beast causeth all nominal Christians, and those who live in the 
compass of his dominion, to worship (to receive and obey) a similar 
form and constitution as that of the Roman Empire which had been 
destroyed; that the popes should be the emperors ; and the diverse 
kingdoms, formed out of its ruins, the provinces of this new empire, 
which was an image of the first, and whose wound (destruction) 
" was healed" by this form and constitution. " And he doeth 
great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on 
the earth in the sight of men." This fire represents the persecu- 
tions and anathemas, called in French " Les foudres du Vatican" 
(the thunders of the Vatican). Men were so blinded and supersti- 



COMMENTARY. 141 

tious that they supposed that these papal anathemas were scourges, 
or fire, coming down from heaven ; that God was truly condemning 
to hell those who were under the papal curses. So, when King 
Robert of France was excommunicated, he was abandoned by all 
his subjects, and shut up in a room, as a pestilential being, receiv- 
ing his food through a hole in the wall, at the hands of two 
faithful servants ; and yet these servants passed the plates, which 
he had handled, through the fire, to purify them. Every one 
knows how the high-minded Henry IV., Emperor of Germany, was 
obliged to come, barefooted and clothed with an old sack, and to 
kneel, during three cold days in winter, at the gates of the castle 
of Canossa ! Such is the fire which the beast has the power to 
cause " to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of 
men !" And men were so superstitious that they could believe that 
these curses came from heaven ; that God was approving and rati- 
fying the papal curses ! 



III. His Works. 

V. 14, 15. "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of 
those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to 
them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, 
which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give 
life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both 
speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast 
should be killed." 

The miracles, by which popery deceiveth here them that dwell 
on the earth (in the compass of its dominion) are not the lying 
wonders, the miracles of saints, of relics, and images, as walking 
and speaking crucifixes, weeping pictures, or coagulated blood of 
saints growing liquid in festival days, by which ignorant people are 
deceived; but they are miracles of this sovereign power and 
tyranny, which the popes had the power to work, as vicars of God, 
before the kings of the earth ; " saying to them that dwell on the 
earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the 
wound by a sword, and did live." The inhabitants of the king- 
doms which were under the papal sway, were struck with terror by 
these anathemas, and by the tortures and stakes of the Inquisition ; 
and they were prevailed upon to submit themselves to the papal 
power, and to make an image to the beast; to the Roman Empire 
which they had destroyed by the sword, and did live, having re- 
ceived a new life from popery. Now, the image ought to be like 
the original, which is the Roman Empire, not only as it was at the 



142 COMMENTARY. 

time of his destruction, but as it was before an idolatrous empire ; 
for the beast rises up out of the sea (verse 1), with all the cha- 
racters of the pagan empire, and receives the seat and power of the 
dragon. Therefore, this new empire should be like the primitive 
one, having the same gods and worship, and enjoying the same 
rights, power, and privileges. So, though the French, English, 
Germans, Spaniards, and other people, are not the subjects of the 
Roman Empire, which they destroyed, they are obliged to obey 
the dictates of the popes, and to add to the proper names of their 
respective kingdoms, the name of their spiritual bondage " Roman 
Catholics," without being Romans. In this manner, these king- 
doms are but provinces, and their kings, the vassals of the papal 
empire, to which they are tributaries, and from which the bishops 
receive their appointment. The worship of saints, their mediators 
and protectors, the images and relics, and its gross superstitions, are 
very similar to those of pagan Rome ; and, for intolerance and 
superstition, papal Rome has far outdone pagan Rome. For " he 
had power to give life (strength and power) unto the image of the 
beast (the spiritual papal empire) that the image of the beast 
should both speak (teach its idolatrous religion), and cause that as 
many as would not worship (accept and religiously obey) the image 
of the beast should be killed." 

The prophet does not speak, here, either of talking graven 
images, or of weeping pictures, but of the image of the beast, — of 
popery, — the image of the Roman pagan empire. And, as its re- 
ligion is represented under the emblem of " a mouth speaking 
great things and blasphemies," the word "speak" means nothing 
else, than that popery had such a power, as to be permitted not only 
"to preach its religion in every kingdom," but to order crusades to 
kill those who would not profess its religion and obey its laws. 
So, popery was not satisfied to enjoy the liberty of worship itself; 
but caused that as many as would not worship according to its 
inventions, should be killed. The following verses will show what 
was the nature and cruelty of its intolerance. 



IV. His Intolerance. 

V. 16, 17. "And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free 
and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and 
that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of 
the beast, or the number of his name." 

The beast spoken of obliged every man, without exception, "to 
receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads ;" that is, 



COMMENTARY. 143 

to show by their works, — indicated by their right hand, — and by 
the public profession of their religion, — indicated by the mark in 
their foreheads, — that they belonged to him as slaves, or cattle 
belong to their masters, whose mark has been stamped on their 
bodies. There are here two classes of worshippers : the first, as 
the savages, who have the images of their gods stamped on their 
arms, do everything to increase the power of the beast; and to 
this class belong the Jesuits, monks, priests, and every popish 
fanatic. The second are those, who profess the papal religion, 
without knowing the depths of Satan, and without being sold to 
him, soul and body. There is yet another class of men, indi- 
cated by the words, "the number of his name/' which they have. 
They do not belong to him, as slaves to their master 5 they have 
not his mark of bondage ; they are only called u Roman Catho- 
lics/' as Pascal and Fenelon, who were born Catholic, but did 
not belong to popery, either by their faith or their works. This 
third class of Catholics is not included in the eternal damna- 
tion, denounced by an angel against the worshippers of the beast 
(14 : 9-11). 

" And no man could buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or 
the name of the beast, or the number of his name." To sell and 
buy is to make use of a natural right, which belongs to all men, 
and without which society can stand no longer. Nevertheless, the 
Roman Church has prevented those, whom she called " heretics," 
because they refused to take the mark of her bondage, from using 
this right, by interdicting the use of fire and water; and yet, 
if any one had, with them, such intercourse as is commanded by 
humanity and compassion, he was himself tormented as a heretic. 
Whoever refused to obey the usurped power of the popes, or to 
comply with the established Church, was considered out of the 
protection of the law, and exposed to any legal incapacities and 
punishment. It is an astonishing fact, that this church has always 
lived on good terms with infidels and atheists, while no religious 
man was permitted to live without the mark of papal bondage, 
which may be the sign of the cross, to which the prophet makes 
allusion. For it is, according to their catechisms, the sign of 
Christians, or rather of Roman Catholics. We read in history that 
the philosopher Diagoras, having turned an atheist, the Athenians 
were so incensed against him that the Areopagus, to which was 
committed the charge of punishing impiety, as well as the other 
crimes, offered one talent for his head, and two, if he were de- 
livered alive. Rome has invented every kind of torture to exter- 
minate the friends of the gospel ; but infidelity and impiety, born 
in her pale, enjoy peacefully the delights of this world, if they 



144 COMMENTARY. 

only preserve the number of the name of the beast, which they 
received on their birthday, — and if this name is yet unknown to 
us, here it is. 



V. The Name of the Beast. 

V. 18. "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the 
number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six 
hundred threescore and six." 

The name of the beast or kingdom must be 1. The name of a 
man; 2. This name must be written in Greek letters, and counted 
after the manner of counting of the Greeks, for St. John wrote in 
Greek; and before the invention of the Arabic figures, every 
nation used to represent the numbers with the letters of the 
alphabet. Now, the Greek name "Lateinos," which by the con- 
traction of el into i 9 according to the use of the Latins, makes 
" Latinus/' the name of the founder of the Latin Empire ; and if 
we look in a Greek dictionary, for the respective value of every 
letter of this name, we shall find it as follows : — 

L = 30 

a = 1 

t = 300 

e = 5 

i = 10 

n = 50 

o = 70 

s = 200 

Total, 666 

The name " Latinus" (Latin), the king of Latium, and founder 
of the empire of the Latins, in Italy, is therefore the name sought 
for. The name of the empire, wounded to death by a sword, and 
healed by the union of the kings with the popes whose vassals 
they are, is the Koman pagan empire, which, after having been 
destroyed by ten barbarian nations, was restored by popedom, the 
image of the first. It is this empire which Satan raised up out 
of its ruins to destroy the servants of the Lord, which rendered 
the little book bitter in the belly; it is this empire, which men, 
deceived by the chimerical supposition that popery was the king- 
dom of Jesus Christ on earth, have long supported for the misfor- 
tune of mankind, and which the Reformation has shown to be 
Antichristianity, in giving us again the word of God, in which this 



COMMENTARY. 145 

church is clearly pointed out with her errors, idolatrous supersti- 
tions, and bloody persecutions. 

If the characters of the great Antichrist, described in this chapter, 
are not yet sufficiently clear to tell every man, " Here is the man I" 
the prophet will give us some others in the seventeenth chapter. 
Now, the prophet having made known the great enemy of Jesus 
Christ and of his Church, he will resume the course of the events, 
which he left off, in the tenth chapter, after having given us the 
emblem of the Reformation, under the symbol of a " little book 
open, sweet in the mouth as honey, and bitter in the belly/' The 
following chapter shows us the progress of the Reformation, which 
shall cause the ruin of Antichrist, whose emblematic description 
we have just examined. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SONG OP THE REDEEMED, V. 1-5 — PROGRESS OF THE REFORMA- 
TION, Y. 6-8 — CURSE AGAINST THE WORSHIPPERS OF ANTI- 
CHRIST, V. 9-13 — THE HARVEST, V. 14-16 THE VINTAGE, 

v. 17-20. 

V. 1-5. " And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with 
him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written 
in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many 
waters, and as the voice of a great thunder : and I heard the voice of harpers 
harping with their harps : and they sung as it were a new song before the 
throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn 
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed 
from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women ; for 
they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever 
he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto 
God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile : for they are 
without fault before the throne of God." 

These hundred forty and four thousand servants, standing, with 
the Lamb, on the mount Sion, the type of the evangelical Church, 
are those who were sealed, in their foreheads, in the seventh chapter, 
to preserve in their purity the doctrines of the apostles, during the 
Dark Ages, and to hand them to the following generations. They 
have " his Father's name written in their foreheads ; ;; because 
they have been faithful to his word, and were not defiled by idolatry 
and superstition, as the multitude of men, who were deceived by 

13 



146 COMMENTARY. 

the chimerical unity of all the members of the church under one 
chief on the earth. And, they appear here, at the time of the 
Reformation, singing the praises of the Lord, to give the Reformers 
the hand of fellowship (3 : 7-13). 

When the Reformation was proclaimed by the monk Luther, it 
was "as the voice of a great thunder," for the high dignitaries of 
the Roman Church, whose anathemas, "her seven thunders and 
the fire which the beast maketh to come down from heaven on the 
earth in the sight of men," proved, this time, to be powerless. 
The friends of liberty heard this event with joy and gratitude, and 
the rest of the scattered Christians, the Waldenses, Lollards, Mora- 
vians, and Bohemians celebrated this deliverance of the Lord with 
songs of joy and thanksgivings, represented by "the voice of harpers 
harping with their harps." It was the awakening of the people 
and the first shaking of the papal throne, indicated by " the voice 
of many waters (peoples and nations, 17 : 15), and the voice of a 
great thunder." 

" And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and 
before the four beasts (the representatives of the militant Church, as 
the elders represent the triumphant: see, 7 : 6-8), and the elders; 
and no man could learn that song but the hundred forty-four thou- 
sand, which were redeemed from the earth." Mark here that, 
without God, we can do nothing. His word is a sealed book in the 
hands of a learned man, or as a book in the hands of an unlearned 
man, who cannot read (Is. 29 : 10-12). To the eyes of those who 
have been seduced by the enchantments of popery, this song of the 
redeemed, which we have seen (7 : 10-12) proclaiming that salva- 
tion comes from God and the Lamb, seems to be "a new song," a 
new religion, though it be the everlasting gospel, " the faith which 
was once delivered unto the saints." Therefore, this song is heard 
before the throne of God, and before the representatives of the 
militant and of the triumphant Church ; but the redeemed of the 
Lord are not permitted to sing it before the papal throne, without 
being slaughtered and burnt, as heretics, by the blinded disciples 
of popery. 

They cannot understand Protestantism with its simple and 
truthful worship, its churches without ornaments and statues, its 
opposition to the papal doctrines and power, its salvation by grace 
and not by works. They are encircled with this scholastic reason- 
ing : " We must believe all that can be proved by the holy fathers, 
councils, decisions of the sovereign pontiffs, tradition, and constant 
practice of the church," and sometimes, they add, " by the holy 
Scriptures •" and so, they wander, as in a labyrinth, in which they 
cannot find any place to get out of their errors and to arrive at the 



COMMENTARY. 147 

truth. They do not think that truth is older than the corrupt 
sources from which they draw their doctrines ; and that, to find the 
truth, they ought to trace it back to its origin, which is the word 
of Grod. I have seen, hundreds of times, the confutation of the 
false interpretation of the texts, " Thou art Peter, and upon this 
rock I will build my Church ;" and, " If he neglect to hear the 
church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican" 
(Matt. 16 : 18 ; 18 : 17), upon which they build up all the papal 
edifice ; and, though these confutations be irresistible, they, as men 
who have no ear to understand, incessantly repeat : " Jesus Christ 
said to Peter, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my 
Church m " u If he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee 
as an heathen man and a publican." Hundreds of times, they have 
been answered that Protestantism is all the Bible, from the first to 
the last page, and nothing else than the Bible : that it is not, then, a 
new religion — that Luther did not invent it — that it was before 
him — that the Reformers, Luther, Zuingle, and Calvin, are nothing 
else for Protestantism than zealous and courageous men, made use 
of by God, as instrumentalities, to break asunder the fetters of bon- 
dage, riveted by ignorance and superstition, and to bring back 
again, among men, the beneficent light of the gospel; and, with 
the gospel, liberty. Notwithstanding that, they repeat incessantly 
the same accusations: "Where were you before Luther? Your 
religion is new; it was unknown before Luther, its inventor, 
scarcely three hundred years ago." Let them learn here, that there 
are old things, which receive new names, without destroying their 
purity and antiquity. 

Though the servants of the Lord had been persecuted and put 
to death, as heretics and enemies of mankind, they stand, with the 
Lamb, on the mount Sion, having his Father's name written in 
their foreheads. The prophet declares that these servants, sealed 
with the seal of the living God (7 : 2-8), the Albigenses, Waldenses, 
Lollards, in England, and the Moravian churches, " are they which 
were not defiled with women," — with " the harlots" of the Mother 
Church (17 : 5), and with " that woman Jezebel, which calleth her- 
self a prophetess (the Roman Church, which calleth herself infalli- 
ble), to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication" 
(2 : 20), by the worship of saints and images, which is the spiri- 
tual fornication and adultery spoken of by the prophet. " For they 
are virgins ;" not of that virginity, imposed upon men, by abstaining 
from marriage, which " is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled 
(Heb. 13:4); but of that virginity of which St. Paul says: 
M I am jealous over you with godly jealousy : for I have espoused 
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to 



148 COMMENTARY. 

Christ" (2 Cor. 11 : 2). " These are they which follow the Larnb 
whithersoever he goeth," in tribulation, or distress, or persecution, 
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, in dungeons and at the 
stake, rather than worship the saints, and kneel clown before dumb 
and insensible images. For, to kneel down before the wood or 
stone or silver, to render them a religious honor, is to worship and 
adore, whatever may be the name by which this religious service 
be denominated. Their virginity consists in their faithfulness to 
Christ, and not in a forced celibacy, which has been, at all times, 
the source of all the immoralities, and of those crimes which 
Christians are not permitted to name. 

" These were the redeemed from among men, being the first 
fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found 
no guile (no hypocrisy), for they are without fault before the 
throne of God." They have been accused, aspersed, and extermi- 
nated as heretics ; but they are without fault before the throne of 
God. Their righteousness, it is true, is not their own ; for they 
were like all the children of Adam, poor and wretched sinners ; 
" but they have washed their robes, and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb," who imputed to them his righteousness, and 
kept them under his wings from the fury of the dragon ; because 
they were the redeemed from among men, being u predestinated to 
be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first- 
born among many brethren." Their number is not large ; but they 
are only " the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb." And, as 
the Jews offered, on the day of Pentecost, the first fruits of the earth, 
that the mass should be sanctified, so these redeemed are consecrated 
to God, as the first fruits, to sanctify the mass of peoples, namely ; 
this great multitude of Protestants, " which no man could number, 
of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" (7 : 9). They 
are the first witness. They come here to give the hand of fellow- 
ship to those, whom the Lord will cause to come and worship be- 
fore their feet (3:9), to bear witness with them to the word of 
God. These new disciples of the gospel, called "Protestants," for 
the protestation of Christian ministers, which was signed at Spires 
(April 25, 1529), against the profession of faith, which the Emperor 
Charles V. would constrain them to adopt, are the second witness 
of the Lord, inasmuch as they were reformed from popery, by the 
preaching of the gospel at the time of the Reformation, to witness 
against those, who, notwithstanding the preaching of the gospel, 
continue to live in the idolatrous doctrines of Antichrist. 

V. 6-8. " And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the 
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every 



M M E N T A R Y. 149 

nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear 
God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and 
worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of 
waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is 
fallen, the great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the 
wrath of her fornication." 

The words, " And I saw another angel," refer us evidently to 
the tenth chapter, where the prophet saw a mighty angel having 
in his hand a little book open. This little book is called here by 
its name "the everlasting gospel;" because it is always the same 
gospel once delivered unto the saints. It is the same gospel, which 
was preached by the apostles, which is still to be preached, not to 
the heathens, but to "them that dwell on the earth," to them that 
inhabit the kingdoms polluted by the idolatrous doctrines of popery. 
Hence, we may see how necessary it was that the prophet should 
show us, by a digression, how the An ti christian Papal Empire had 
been raised up out of the ruins of the Roman pagan empire, and 
how these peoples and nations, to whom the gospel is to be 
preached, were swallowed up in the great papal apostacy. These 
papal peoples are the subjects of the Reformation, whose emblem 
we have seen in the tenth chapter. Here, we begin to hear the 
voice of the Reformers. The rapidity of their progress, with the 
instrumentality of the recent invention of the art of printing, is re- 
presented by " the angel fiying in the midst of heaven," through- 
out the papal empire. At first, they attack only the scandalous 
abuses which had been introduced into the Church. It was the 
shameful traffic of indulgences they wished to put down, and the 
worship of the saints and images they wished to destroy, in order 
that men should turn again to the worship of the true living God, 
" Fear God," they said, with a loud voice, " and give glory to him ; 
for the hour of his judgment is come ;" and worship, — not the crea- 
ture which cannot save you — but " worship him that made heaven 
and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." 

Such were the first steps of the Reformation. Bat the little 
book, translated into living languages, and put into the hands of all 
men, awoke them soon from their lethargic slumber. It was read 
with avidity throughout the extent of the papal empire, in G-er- 
many, Holland, England, France, Spain, and even in Italy : its 
doctrines were contrasted with the teachings of the Roman Church; 
the papal errors were revealed, and the man of sin, the son of per- 
dition, pointed out. Then the voice of the peoples, and among 
them the Reformers, raised up by the Spirit of God, was heard 
pronouncing these words of the second angel : " Babylon is fallen, 

13* 



150 COMMENTAR Y. 

is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the 
wine of the wrath of her fornication." 

Rome is called " Babylon," because, as the ancient Babylon, 
which held in bondage the people of God, and cast into a heated 
furnace, those who would not worship the image that Nebuchad- 
nezzar set up, so the Boman Church held in bondage the servants 
of God, and had funeral piles and tortures for those who would not 
obey her laws, and worship her images (Dan. 3 : 1-29 ; 6 : 4-28). 
Pagan Borne did not impose her gods upon the people she had 
conquered; but papal Borne presents a wooden cross to all people, 
in all the compass of her dominion, and says, " Believe, or die I" 
Believe, — not in the book of God, in his word — but in my power, 
in the miracles of my saints and relics, — believe, that I am the 
vicar of Christ, — that I am infallible, — that I have all power on 
earth and in heaven, or — die ! So, " she made all nations drink 
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Mark the expression, 
u drink of the wine of her fornication u " these nations, defiled by 
her spiritual fornication, are as it were intoxicated, without reason, 
understanding, and ready, as drunken men, to shed innocent blood, 
to gain heaven. At the voice of the monk Dominic, the Albigenses 
were slaughtered, whilst the priests and other monks were invoking 
the Holy Ghost, for their bloody deed, by singing the " Veni Sancte 
Spiritus I" They are no more men; there is neither brotherly nor 
filial love ; for, in their fanatic frenzy, the father will betray the 
son; the brother, his brother; the son, his parents; and they will 
denounce each other to the Inquisition, thinking to render service 
to God by such unnatural treason. So much, and so true it is, that 
the papal idolatrous worship had made them drunk with the wine 
of the wrath of her spiritual fornication ! Therefore, here is the 
curse, which another angel denounces against the fanatic worship- 
pers of popery. 

V. 9-11. " And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If 
any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his fore- 
head, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation ; and he 
shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, 
and in the presence of the Lamb : and the smoke of their torment ascendeth 
up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the 
beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." 

It was decided, in 1215, in the last General Council of Lateran, 
composed of 412 bishops, and 800 abbots, that " out of the Boman 
Church there is no salvation." But here an angel of God, more 
powerful than all the most numerous councils, pronounces, with a 
loud voice, the eternal damnation of all the worshippers of the 



COMMENTARY. 151 

beast and his image (of the pagan and papal Rome). " The same 
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out 
without mixture (without alleviation), into the cup of his indigna- 
tion ; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and the 
smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever" (Ps. 75 : 8). 
This anathema is clearly pronounced against the Papists ; but does 
it concern all Roman Catholics in general ? God forbid that we 
should extend this anathema beyond its limits, and that we involve 
in that curse such men as Pascal, and Fenelon, and so many other 
sincere persons, who, in the midst of the darkness of popery, arrived 
at the knowledge of Jesus, the Saviour of mankind, notwithstand- 
ing the altars of the pagan superstitions, which concealed him from 
their eyes. 

There are some Roman Catholics, who have only "the number 
of the name of the beast" (13 : 17), who are born Catholic, without 
being slaves of papal superstitions and idolatry; and they are not 
included in this curse. The anathema is pronounced only against 
those, who " receive his mark in their foreheads, or in their hand, 
or the mark of his name," who are truly Papists in their acts and 
profession ; who profess his religion in all its idolatrous worship, 
and support and propagate its doctrines. The curse is formal; 
and, without stepping upon the throne of God, we may say with 
certitude, after the words of the angels, that those who profess the 
abominable doctrines of popery, and are concerned in their propa- 
gation, or in the papal persecutions and cruelties, " the same shall 
drink of the wine of the wrath of God" — that they " shall be tor- 
mented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, 
and in the presence of the Lamb, — that the smoke of their torment 
ascendeth up forever and ever, and that they have no rest day nor 
night." Such is the anathema enacted against them. Let the 
Roman Catholics examine themselves before God. Let them com- 
pare their belief with the word of God, and ask God earnestly that 
he would teach them in the way that they shall choose ; for God is 
not mocked with impunity. 

V. 12, 13. "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep 
the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice 
from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the 
Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
labors; and their works do follow them." 

The dreadful curse, which we have just examined, indicates that 
there is some papal persecution plotted against the witnesses of the 
Lord ; and the words, " Here is the patience of the saints" refer 
certainly to some bloody deed of the supporters of popery. As all 



152 COMMENTARY. 

the pagan persecutions were included in the Diocletian persecution, 
which was the last and the most cruel, so the papal persecutions 
and slaughters are included in the persecution of Louis XIV., 
which was also the last and the most cruel. The Church of 
Smyrna (2 : 8-11) is a picture of what shall come to pass during 
the period of which it is the emblem, and the persecution takes 
place only, at the opening of the fifth seal (6 : 9-11) ; in the same 
manner, when a new state of things is to take place, the prophet 
shows us, in a picture, the sealing of the witnesses and the slaugh- 
ter which awaits them (7 : 4-17) ; but the bloody persecution is 
only explained in its place, in the series of the events (11 : 7-11). 
Therefore the words, " Here is the patience of the saints/' refer us, 
it is true, to all the slaughters of Protestants by the papists ; but 
especially to the killing of the witnesses, at the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes, which was " the hour of temptation, which shall 
come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" 

( 3:1 °)- 

The event, which followed immediately the martyrdom of the 
two witnesses (11 : 11-13), namely, the ascending of the witnesses 
up to the throne of England, which checked all persecution, gives 
us the meaning of the thirteenth verse : " Write, Blessed are the 
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, 
that they may rest from their labors ; and their works do follow 
them." 

The prophet is not speaking of the happiness enjoyed by the saints 
immediately after their death, nor of the possession of the reward 
promised to good works, as it is generally understood. Scott sup- 
poses that the Holy Ghost teaches us, by these words, that we have 
nothing to fear from the terrors of purgatory, since the saints of 
the Lord rest from their labors. But the prophet does not say, 
" Blessed are the saints or Christians which die in the Lord," but, 
" Blessed are the dead" (the sinners, heathens and papists) (Eph. 
2 : 1) " which die in the Lord" who repent and are converted to the 
Lord)." Paul says, " Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are 
alive from the dead," from sinners or heathens, as it is evident (Bom. 
6 : 13), and therefore the dead spoken of here, as well as in this 
test, "And the time of the dead, that they should be judged" 
(11 : 18) represent the papists. Now, to die in the Lord, signifies 
" to put off the old man, and put on the new man •" for the same 
apostle, speaking to the Colossian Christians, says, " For ye are dead 
(converted to the Lord and dead to the world), and your life is hid 
with Christ in God" (3 : 3). Therefore, the meaning of this text is, 
" Blessed are the papists who turn to Christ and his word from 
henceforth," from the triumph of the witnesses, who are on the 



COMMENTARY. 153 

throne of England, and who will check the papal persecutions. 
n Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors (from 
their persecutions to which the converts are exposed), and their 
works do follow them," whatever they may accomplish for the glory 
of God, and the coining of his kingdom, shall stand after them : 
no papal crusade shall any longer destroy the works of Christians 
converted from popery ) they shall enjoy the fruit of their faith- 
fulness unto death. Such is the meaning of this passage. It 
is like a challenge addressed to the persecutors, showing that they 
can do nothing against the Lord. We have, now, "the judgment of 
the dead" (11 : 18), under the emblems of " harvest and vintage," 
which form the third woe, emblematically represented by the seven 
vials of the wrath of God. 

V. 14-16. "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud 
one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in 
his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying 
with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: 
for the time is come for thee to reap ; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth ; and the earth 
was reaped." 

The white cloud, upon which sat the Son of man, is the emblem 
of the holy and mysterious judgments of God, in which the Chris- 
tian sees, as through a shining cloud, Jesus Christ appearing, in 
his human nature, to execute these judgments, as he has received 
the power from his Father (5 : 6-8). He had "on his head a 
golden crown," as an emblem of his royalty, of his righteous judg- 
ments, and of his sovereign power over all the kingdoms of the 
earth. The " sharp sickle" shows how terrible are the judgments, 
which he is to execute over the papal kingdoms. The other angel, 
who came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice, to thrust in 
his sickle, and reap, is the symbol of the iniquities of the dead 
papists, whose voice crieth to God from the earth • because the 
measure of their sins is full, and the appointed time to judge them 
is at hand. This angel " came out of the temple," to show that 
the vengeance of the Lord will execute these judgments, to punish 
those who have sinned against and in his temple (Ez. 8 : 4-18). 
" It is time to thresh the daughter of Babylon : yet a little while, 
and the time of her harvest shall come;" for the harvest of the 
earth (papal kingdoms) is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud 
thrust in his sickle on the earth ; and the earth was reaped. To 
understand well what are the judgments, which are represented 
under the emblem of the harvest, let us examine the parable of 
the "seed," and the interpretation given by Jesus Christ himself. 

" Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven 



154 COMMENTARY. 

is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field : bnt while men 
slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 
But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared 
the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him : 
Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it 
tares ? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said 
unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, 
Nay ; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 
Let both grow together until the harvest : and in the time of harvest I will 
say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in 
bundles to burn them : but gather the wheat into my barn/' 

Here is the explanation given by our Lord himself. 

" He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; 
the good seed are the children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the chil- 
dren of the wicked one,; the enemy that soweth them is the devil ; the harvest 
is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the 
tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this 
world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather 
out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity ; and 
shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing 
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom 
of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Matt. 13 : 24-30; 
37-43.) 

The angels, who represent every person, chosen as instrumentalities 
to execute the will of God, have two things to do during the time 
of the harvest : to gather first the tares, and bind them in bundles to 
burn them \ and to gather the wheat into the barn of the Lord. 
Now, from the beginning of the French Revolution of 1793, the 
reapers have been at their work. The Robespierres of that bloody 
revolution have been the instrumentality made use of by the Lord 
to execute his vengeance upon the royal family, the nobles, and 
priests. And, as the people had shared in their bloody persecu- 
tions against the Christians, God raised up the young Napoleon, 
and bestowed upon him this extraordinary genius, in order that he 
should avenge, on the field of battle, the blood of his martyrs, which 
the people had cruelly shed, as water upon the earth. The nu- 
merous victims of Robespierre's rage, and \h^ thousands who fell 
in every battle of the great Napoleon, were, as many bundles of 
tares bound together to be burnt with the fire of war. (See the ex- 
position of the nineteenth chapter.) 

The harvest, as the emblem of the judgments of God, contains 
the first five vials of the wrath of God, as it will be shown in the 
sixteenth chapter, the prophet showing always, in a general picture, 
the events, which he will afterwards explain more circumstantially. 
The angels, who had the charge of gathering the wheat into the 
barn of the Lord, began their work seven years after the French 



COMMENTARY. 155 

Revolution. The Protestant Church of England was then awakened 
from her lethargic slumber. A Bible society was founded, in 1800, 
in England ; and, in 1805, some other societies were formed to 
send missionaries throughout the world, among the heathens and 
among the peoples poisoned with the idolatrous papal superstitions. 
This work, which increases day by day, will finish only, when the 
kingdoms of this world shall be the Lord's. Then it shall be the 
end of the world, according to the meaning of the parable of the 
seed ; but not of this universe, as it is generally understood, and 
which shall take place only after the Millennium (20 : 11-15), if 
so it is that this universe ought to be destroyed. When the end 
of the kingdoms of this world shall come, at the pouring out of the 
seventh vial, called here the vintage, described in the nineteenth 
chapter, then the kingdom of the Lord shall be set up, and " then 
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father." There is the harvest ; here is the vintage. 

V. 17-20. " Aiid another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, 
he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, 
which had power over the fire ; and cried with a loud cry to him that had 
the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters 
of the vine of the earth ; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust 
in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it 
into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. And the wine-press was 
trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto 
the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." 

The harvest was finished, in 1816, with the fifth vial of the 
wrath of God ; and, then, the sixth was poured out, to prepare the 
elements (16 : 12-16), which must cause the last catastrophe to take 
place, and the kingdom of our Lord to be set up in all the earth. 
It is yet the " sharp sickle/' which is the emblem of the destruction 
of the kings of the earth. The angel, who has this deadly weapon, 
came also u out of the temple," to show that it was thence also that 
the iniquities of men ascended up to the throne of God; and 
these iniquities are the more heinous that the temple of God " is 
in heaven" (the empire), since the sounding of the seventh trumpet 
(11 : 19). They could have entered into the temple, since the 
liberty of worship had been granted, in 1792; the rod of the man 
of sin had been broken, and the Bible had been put into the hands 
of all those who would receive it. But they choose rather to con- 
tinue in their errors, superstitions, idolatry, or infidelity ; therefore 
this angel comes out of the temple, which is open in the papal 
empire, " having a sharp sickle." 

Another angel, which had power over the fire (18 : 8) of war, 
" came out from the altar," to show that the judgments, which are 



156 COMMENTARY. 

to be executed, have been provoked by the iniquities committed 
against the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Ez. 9 : 1-7), cried to 
him that had the sharp sickle, saying, " Thrust in thy sharp sickle, 
and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth ; for her grapes are 
fully ripe" (Joel 3 : 9-17). " And the angel thrust in his sickle 
into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into 
the great wine-press of the wrath of God." 

This vintage is called "the battle of that great day of God 
Almighty (16 : 14-16), in the place called in the Hebrew tongue, 
Armageddon" (the mountain of destruction), and we have its de- 
scription in the nineteenth chapter, where this battle is called also 
"the Marriage Supper of the Lamb." This battle synchronizes 
with the seventh vial, whose first effusion has shaken all the papal 
kingdoms ; and when it shall be poured out to the dregs, they shall 
be swallowed up into an everlasting ruin with all the worshippers 
of the image of the beast, and all those who commit iniquity. The 
Protestants are also invited to awake from their slumber and luke- 
warmness, and to be prepared for the coming of the Lord (3 : 14- 
22); for many of them, as well as the papists, are miserable, poor, 
and blind, and naked, and they do not know it. Those, who shall 
not be clothed with the wedding-garment at His coming, shall be 
u cast into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing 
of teeth." 

" And the wine-press was trodden without the city," either 
without Rome, or rather without the papal kingdoms, in some Pro- 
testant country, or in the East, as the second coming of our Lord 
is likened to the lightning appearing from the east, " And blood 
came out of the wine-press, even unto the horse bridles, by the 
space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs," which make 200 
Italian miles, which form, it is said, all the extent of the papal 
territory from Home to the Po River. We cannot say precisely 
where shall be the theatre of that scene of carnage, since the event 
is not yet accomplished. But we can say that papal Rome shall 
drink the dregs of this cup of destruction, that, as a great mill- 
stone cast into the sea, is found no more, " So with violence shall 
that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no 
more at all" (read Is. 34, and 63 : 1-6). Let us nob forget that 
the Lord admonishes us to watch and be ready ; for we know 
neither the day nor the hour, wherein the Son of man cometh. 



COMMENTARY, 157 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE TEMPLE OF THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY OPENED 

IN HEAVEN. 

This chapter, which is as the preface to the following chapter, 
where the seven vials of the wrath of God are poured out upon 
the papal kingdoms, conies naturally after the eleventh chapter, at 
the end of which the seventh angel sounded. Before commencing 
the explanation of this chapter, let us cast a glance upon the 
method which the prophet has followed, since his digression from 
the course of the events (10 : 11); and we shall be convinced that 
God alone could employ, in his exposition of the events, such a 
wonderful order. He has, at first, delineated, under the emblems 
of the temple, and of the court without the temple, given unto the 
Gentiles, the limits, which separate the true Christians from the 
multitude of those who have only the name of Christians, and to 
whom it was given to tread down under foot the holy city, to over- 
come and kill the servants of the Lord, during 1260 years. 

This time being accomplished, the enemies of the witnesses 
formed a conspiracy to destroy them utterly ; and after having 
killed them, during three years and a half, when they thought to 
' have succeeded in their infernal plot, the witnesses ascended up to 
the throne of England, at the sight of their enemies. Henceforth 
they are enabled to check the papal persecutions : such was their 
first victory over their enemies. 

Near by this picture, the prophet shows us, under the same 
prospect, and by the emblem of the seventh trumpet, the final 
triumph of the Church of the Lord and the complete ruin of her 
enemies. An ordinary writer would have given immediately after 
the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the emblems of the cala- 
mities which it contains. But we would have known, neither the 
true author of the persecutions decreed against the Christians, nor 
the artifices which he had employed, nor the instruments which he 
had in his power, to succeed in their destruction. For, true, the 
prophet had told us that the Boman Empire had been destroyed 
by ten barbarian nations ; that the Mussulmans had conquered the 
Eastern Empire, in which they spread the poison of Mahometan- 
ism ; but we did not know what had become of these barbarians or 
of the peoples which they conquered. It was, then, necessary that 
the prophet should teach us that first, in order that we might 
understand which people and nations are to be visited by the 

14 



158 COMMENTARY. 

scourges, contained in the seventh trumpet; and again, it was 
necessary for us that we should be acquainted with the progress of 
the Reformation, the preaching of the gospel freely given to the 
papists, and with the eternal damnation awaiting the supporters of 
the masterpiece of Satan, and the wretched victims of its idola- 
trous teachings, — in order that we might acknowledge that the 
judgments of God are just, and that he only punishes because they 
have refused to obey his gracious and merciful invitations. Now, 
it is precisely what the prophet has done in the preceding chapters, 
and it is what he should have done, before giving us the emblems 
of the calamities, which are contained in the seven vials of the 
wrath of God. 

V. 1-4. " And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven 
angels having the seven last plagues ; for in them, is filled up the wrath of 
God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire : and them that 
had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his 
mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having 
the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, 
and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, 
Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who 
shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for 
all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made 
manifest." 

In reading this chapter, we wonder at the solemn majesty, which 
reigns from the beginning to the end, as when, in the courts of 
law, we see, before his judges, some notorious malefactor, con- 
demned to death, and surrounded with a crowd of spectators and 
officers, clothed with the emblems of the sacred duty, which society 
intrusted to them, ready to execute the judgments of human 
justice. We know who are the guilty. And their doom is repre- 
sented under the image of a " sea of glass mingled with fire/' in 
which they are to be destroyed, as Pharaoh and all his army were 
formerly swallowed up in the Red Sea, for having pursued to the 
utmost the people of God. Here the spectators are the redeemed 
of the Lamb, who are witnessing the destruction of their enemies ; 
the angels, clothed in pure and white linen, are the ministers of 
the vengeance of the Lord; they receive seven golden vials full 
of the wrath of God, from the hand of one of the representatives 
of the militant Church, against which the foul deed was committed ; 
and the temple, in which all these things are performed, is filled 
with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no man 
is able to enter into the temple, to take refuge there, to escape 
from the judgments pronounced against the guilty; for it is too 
late. 



COMMENTARY. 159 

The emblems of these mysterious dispensations of the provi- 
dence of God appear to the eyes of the prophet as a " great and 
marvellous sign/' Seven angels, commissioned to execute the 
judgments of God, which form the third woe (8 : 13), have " the 
seven last plagues," by which the empire of Antichrist is to be 
destroyed, and in which, consequently, " is filled up the wrath of 
God •" for then the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ shall be 
set up (Dan. 2 : 44). The chastisements, figured by these plagues, 
are represented under the image of a "sea of glass mingled with 
fire," to show that the papal kingdom shall be wasted by the fire 
of wars, and broken to pieces as potter's vessels. The smoke 
mingled with the flames, arising out of the burning cities, will 
present to the eyes the transparent image of a sea of glass mingled 
with fire, on which the servants of the Lord, as the Israelites, after 
having passed the Red Sea, shall sing the song of Moses the ser- 
vant of God (Ex. 15 : 1-21). 

It may be said also that these plagues are represented under the 
image of a sea of glass mingled with fire, because these judgments 
are inflicted upon those kingdoms for the contempt of the manifest 
grace of God, figured by the brazen laver, wherein Aaron and his 
sons should wash their hands and their feet, that they die not. 
The papists refused to wash their robes and make them white in 
the blood of the Lamb, as in the living waters of the grace of God, 
in which they could see salvation as through a transparent crystal ; 
but they despised the gift of God, and, in their hatred against the 
elect of God, they pursued them through this sea of graces and 
mercies, which was their refuge ; and this sea, which saves the 
servants of the Lord, became for them as for Pharaoh, a sea of 
glass mingled with fire, by which they are consumed. While they 
are perishing in that sea of fire, the elect "that had gotten the 
victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and 
over the number of his name," over the papal impostures, seduc- 
tions, idolatry, and worldly grandeur, and who have even refused 
to receive the name of "Roman Catholics," though they might 
have been preserved from the papal idolatries and superstitions, 
" stand on the sea of glass," which saved them from the fury of 
their enemies, "having the harps of God," to sing the glory, 
power, holiness, and justice of God Almighty. They sing the song 
of Moses, to show that they are delivered from their bondage, as 
the Israelites, and from the destruction from which they have 
escaped by the miraculous protection of the Lamb, while their 
enemies are drowned in a sea of fire. Therefore, they sing also 
the song of the Lamb, saying, " Great and marvellous are thy 
works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou 



160 COMMENTARY. 

King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glorify thy 
name ? For thou only art holy : for all nations shall come and 
worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." 

Mark what titles they give to the Lamb. They declare in their 
song that he is "the Lord God Almighty, the King of saints, the 
Lord, and the only one holy." He is the Eternal, our righteous- 
ness. He put on our humanity, as a veil, to dwell among men, to 
teach and save them, by accomplishing, as man, the law of his 
Father, and dying to atone, by the sacrifice of the cross, for the sins 
of his disciples, who believe in him, and to whom he imputes his 
righteousness, that they should be made one with him and partakers 
of the kingdom of God. 

Though the second interpretation of the emblem of "the sea of 
glass mingled with fire," as representing the grace of God, may ap- 
pear to be the true one, it is more probable, that it represents the 
papal kingdoms ravaged by the fire of wars. For the word " sea," 
has always been employed by St. John and Daniel (7 : 3), as the 
emblem of the revolutions of the kingdoms of the earth. There- 
fore, this image of a sea of glass mingled with fire represents the 
condition of France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Prussia, and of all 
Europe, during the bloody wars of the French Republic of 1793, 
to the fall of Napoleon in 1816. These kingdoms were to look 
upon, as an immense sea of fire, over which stood England, and 
Holland, and Switzerland, singing the deliverance of the Lamb. 
The first were indebted to the waters of the sea for their salvation, 
as the Israelites, and the others were not concerned in these wars. 
In this manner, we see that Protestant countries were unhurt by 
the first plagues of the third woe, so that the judgments of the 
Lord were truly made manifest. These plagues are for the papal 
kingdoms, what the Red Sea was for the Egyptians. 

V. 5-8. "And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle 
of the testimony in heaven, was opened : and the seven angels came out of 
the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and 
having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts 
gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who 
liveth forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the 
glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the 
temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." 

The tabernacle of the testimony, was the temple of God in the 
wilderness. The Israelites, who sought the Lord went out unto 
that temple, to worship God and address him their requests; and 
the presence of God manifested itself in a cloudy pillar, which de- 
scended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, the Lord speaking 
unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend (Ex. 



COMMENTARY. 161 

33 : 7-11; 40 : 34-35; 1 K. 8 : 10-14). Therefore the tabernacle, 
where God dwelt, is the figure of the true Church of Jesus Christ. 
The temple of the true Church is called : " the temple of the 
tabernacle of the testimony ;" because the true Church was obliged 
to fly into the wilderness to be nourished there, 1260 years (12 : 
14), during the time of their prophecy, bearing witness to the 
truth, and condemning the worshippers of idols. The temple of 
the true Church, is now opened in heaven, — in all the kingdoms 
overruled by Antichrist. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet 
(11 : 19), it was opened in 1792, when the civil constitution of the 
clergy was decreed by the representatives of the French revolution, 
and, then, the liberty of worship was granted to every religious de- 
nomination, except to the papal church, whose rod was broken. 
The papal thunders, or anathemas, are no longer to be feared : they 
are now powerless and laughed to scorn. It was after the establish- 
ment of Protestantism in England, a second victory of the Church 
over popery ; and her final triumph shall be accomplished only at 
the pouring out of the seventh vial. Mark how the prophet shows 
us, by a single word, "the temple was opened in heaven," that this 
passage synchronizes with the seventh trumpet (11 : 19), where we 
find the same words. (Compare also for the vintage, 14 : 19 ; 16 : 
19 ; 19 : 15, showing that the same event is spoken of.) 

The angels, " having the seven plagues, came out of the temple;" 
because it is against the Church that the iniquities have been com- 
mitted ; and the Lord will avenge the blood of his martyrs, and 
the contempt of his covenant, which they have trodden under foot. 
The angels, avengers of the Church of the Lord, are, like the high 
priests, " clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts 
girded with golden girdles," to show the righteousness and holiness 
of the judgments which they are to execute. They are like a 
sacrifice offered to the justice of God, to cleanse his Church, to take 
away all offences out of the earth, and to establish everywhere a 
holy worship in spirit and in truth. 

It is one of the four beasts (one of the representatives of the 
militant Church), who gave unto the angels " the seven vials full 
of the wrath of God," because the sins were committed against the 
militant Church, whose members were trodden under foot, cast into 
prison, slaughtered or burnt at the stake. It is the testimony of 
that Church, her teachings, and holy ordinances, which were 
despised, and prosecuted as blasphemies, and forbidden upon pain 
of death, whilst errors and idolatrous worship, were protected and 
paid. Now, the time of revenge is at hand. Now, the temple of 
God is filled with smoke, for the great and terrible God is there, in 
the midst of his people, to deliver them by dreadful judgments, 

14* 



162 COMMENTARY. 

from the oppression of their enemies. And, this smoke, with 
which the temple is filled, from the glory of God, and from his 
power, which he manifests by these judgments, is like this pillar, 
luminous for his children, and dark for their oppressors. For, "no 
man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the 
seven angels were fulfilled." 

It is evident that these words : (t no man was able to enter into 
the temple," must be understood, not of individual persons, but of 
kings and kingdoms, which have committed adultery with popery. 
These peoples or kingdoms, which were formed out of the ruins of 
the Roman Empire, are ten in number; and, when England fell 
from popery, one of these kingdoms entered into the temple of the 
tabernacle of the testimony. But, though the bloody French 
Revolution of 1793, used harshly the kings, noblemen, and priests, 
in hatred of Jesuitism and popery; and though, for the same 
reason, infidelity erected altars to the goddess Reason, over the 
ruins of the altars of the papal demi-gods, as Mahomet proclaimed 
an arbitrary G od in hatred of graven images, no one of these kings 
and kingdoms was able to abandon popery, and enter into the tem- 
ple of God. On the contrary, Jesuitism was re-established in 1814; 
armies of Jesuits, from soldiers turned missionaries, were sent every- 
where to repair the altars of the saints, and to propagate their 
idolatrous superstitions. Louis Philippe, an infidel, when he was a 
prince, turned, on the throne, a bigoted king and a slave to popery. 
The infidel representatives of the new French republic, delivered 
this young maiden of liberty into the hands of the Jesuits, her 
enemies, to be smothered in their arms. The Holy Alliance has 
set on foot again, its infernal league against civil and religious 
liberty, thinking to prevail, by this assemblage of tyrants, to give 
a new life to the beast, to revive the principle of priestly law, and 
again rule over the peoples by decretals, bulls, dungeons, and the 
stake. But, notwithstanding their hopes, and the triumphs of 
which they boast for a little while, they forward only the fall of the 
colossus, which must soon overwhelm them in its ruin. They can- 
not be enlightened by the gospel; they are to be as monuments of 
the glory and power of the Almighty, in the day of his wrath. 
" And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and 
from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till 
the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." 



COMMENTARY. 163 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE SEVEN VIALS OF THE WRATH OF GOD. 

First Vial. 

V. 1, 2. " And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven 
angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the 
earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth ; and 
there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of 
the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." 

There is a great analogy between the emblems of the first 
trumpets, which caused the ruin of the Roman Empire, and made 
ready the way to the empire of Antichrist, and between the vials of 
the wrath of God, which must be poured out upon the earth, that 
is, upon the papal kingdoms. Their ruin having been decreed, for 
having defiled the temple of God, and made his house a den of 
thieves, a great voice out of the temple was heard saying : " Go your 
ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth/' 
upon the Roman Church (Dan. 2 : 31-45), which is the miry clay 
mixed with the iron of the civil powers. 

At the pouring out of the first vial, " there fell a noisome and 
grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast and 
upon them which worshipped his image" (13 : 15-19). The earth, 
being the emblem of the worldly papal religion, as we have seen it 
everywhere in this prophecy; because a worldly, tyrannical, and 
idolatrous religion, whatever may be the name by which she is de- 
corated, is no longer the daughter of heaven ; it is, then, upon the 
men having the mark of the papal idolatrous empire, the image of 
the pagan Roman Empire, that the " noisome and grievous sore 
fell :" and this noisome and grievous sore was infidelity and revolu- 
tionary frenzy or anarchy. 

The angels who poured out this vial were the philosophers of the 
eighteenth century, and "Voltaire at their head. They unveiled 
the superstitions and turpitudes of popery ; and to show how bitter 
a hatred was engendered in their minds by the papal religion, they 
attempted even to overthrow the God of heaven from his throne, 
upon which they tried to place their frail goddess, " Reason." For, 
every one who has no other knowledge of Christianity than the 
poor notions which he receives from popery, passes necessarily from 
his superstitions and childish credulity to infidelity and impiety, as 
we pass from a heinous tyranny to an unbounded anarchy. So, 



164 COMMENTARY. 

idolatry and superstition gave birth to irreligion and impiety ; and 
despotism, to anarchy. This sore upon the mind of men was 
" noisome and grievous:" under the specious names of "Liberty" 
and " Equality," they overturned the thrones of the kings ; they 
banished the nobility; and the priests were obliged to leave France. 
The rich estates and possessions of the papal clergy (about the fourth 
part of all France), which they had acquired by a long and cove- 
tous tyranny over the consciences of men, were seized upon and 
sold; and, in the name of Marat, Collot d'Arbois, and especially of 
Robespierre, all France was in consternation. These days of the 
vengeance of the Lord were called " The Days of Terror." 



Second Vial. 



V . 3. " And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea ; and it 
became as the blood of a dead man : and every living soul died in the sea." 

As Genseric, at the sounding of the second trumpet, fell as it 
were a great mountain burning with fire, which was cast into the 
sea, and the third part of the sea became blood (8 : 8), so at the 
pouring out of the second vial Admiral Nelson, at the head of the 
English fleet, in 1805, destroyed the combined fleets of France and 
Spain, near Cape Trafalgar. This maritime war, the bloodiest that 
has ever been seen, which continued more than twenty years, 
during which so much blood was shed that the prophet might truly 
say that the ic sea became as the blood of, a dead man, and every 
living soul died in the sea." Some other judgments of God, from 
the sounding of the seventh trumpet, had been already made mani- 
fest, before that bloody battle ; but they are placed after this event, 
because this bloody battle was but the result of a plague, which had 
begun ravaging about twenty-five years before that event. 



Third Vial. 



Y. 4—7. "And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and 
fountains of waters ; and they became blood. And I heard the angels of the 
waters say, Thou art righteous, Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, 
because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and 
prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink ; for they are worthy. 
And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true 
and righteous are thy judgments." 

At the sounding of the third trumpet, Attila fell as " a great star 
from the heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and he fell upon the 



COMMENTARY. 165 

third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters ;" and, in 
examining our map, we have seen that the countries, pointed out 
by this figured language, are those which are at the foot of the 
Alps, in the north of Italy, whence spring the Ehine, Rhone, 
Danube, and Po, upon which Attila fell with his army, and where 
he died the day of his marriage. It is therefore upon the coun- 
tries at the foot of these mountains, that the third vial is poured 
out, and the waters became blood in consequence of this judgment 
of God. 

Now, if we consult the history of this epoch, we shall find that 
it was precisely there that the young Bonaparte, after having crossed 
the Alps, destroyed, in some days, the army and the kingdom of 
Sardinia and Savoy, and cut in pieces the armies of Austria. The 
blood of the conquering army as well as that of the conquered, in 
the famous battles of Montenotte, Millesimo, Diego, and Mondovi, 
in 1796, and that of Marengo, in 1800, was shed by torrents, so 
that these rivers, lakes, and fountains of waters " became blood," 
in punishment of an old slaughter, accomplished there by the 
united armies of France and Savoy, and written there, as it were, 
in the rocks of these mountains (11 : 7-10). 

When the blood was shedding on both parts, the angel of the 
waters said : u Thou art righteous, Lord, which art, and wast, 
and shalt be ; because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed 
the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood 
to drink; for they are worthy." Who are, then, the saints and 
prophets whose blood had been shed at the foot of these mountains ? 
Do you hear the voice of this angel, blind executioners of the 
papal bulls and excommunications ! The place of your slaughters 
is clearly indicated :• no other country can be designated, in Europe, 
as being the source of rivers and fountains of waters, than these 
mountains inhabited by the Waldenses. There are their valleys at 
the foot of these mountains, from which spring the fountains and 
rivers of Europe ; and it is there that, during three years and a 
half, you slaughtered about one million of saints and prophets of 
the Lord. For these heretic Waldenses, whom you hunted as wild 
beasts in the dens and caves of the forests, where they fled for 
refuge, were, the angel says, the saints and prophets of the Lord. 
Your crime was written and sealed in these moving waters, which 
had been unable to wash it away, though it was one century and a 
half since ; for nations, as well as any sinner, shall be holden with 
the cords of their sins (Prov. 5 : 22). The Lord waited for you 
there, and he required a small tribute, before the coming day of your 
utter destruction. "Even so, Lord God Almighty," says another 
angel, M true and righteous are thy judgments." This angel who 



166 COMMENTARY. 

was heard " out of the altar" speaks in the name of the slaughtered 
Waldenses; for the altar is the emblem of the sacrifice of their life 
offered up to Jesus Christ, our altar, in bearing witness to his word, 
as the martyrs of pagan persecutions (6 : 9-11). These waters had 
been stained by their blood, it was just that they should be stained 
with the blood of the French and Piedmontese, their persecutors. 



Fourth Vial. 



V. 8, 9. " And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun ; and 
power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched 
with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over 
these plagues : and they repented not to give him glory." 

At the sounding of the fourth trumpet, the third part of the sun 
was smitten and darkened, as well as the moon and stars ; and, at 
the pouring out of the fourth vial upon the sun, power was given 
unto him to scorch men with fire. We have already seen that the 
expression "with fire," designates the fire of wars, and that the 
u sun" represents the chief of the state, either king or emperor, 
who overrules all the subjects of the state, as the sun overrules ail 
the celestial bodies. Therefore, these words: " and power was 
given unto him to scorch men with fire," mean, that the chief of 
the state received power to exercise a military despotism over the 
papal kingdoms, and to torment them by the disastrous consequences 
of wars. Now, at this epoch, the young Napoleon, proclaimed 
Emperor of the French, in 1804, conducted everywhere his victo- 
rious armies ; and everywhere in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Grermany, 
and Prussia, the kings and peoples " were scorched as with a great 
heat," with the plague of war. There were left but women and 
old men in France, when this scorching sun went to Russia, where 
his burning heat was extinguished in the ice and snow of a hasty 
winter, which brought on the destruction of his army, until then, 
everywhere victorious. This sun kindled again for one hundred 
days. When he reappeared, he was received with acclamations of 
joy by the people, who were already tired, after some months, with 
the base and low rancors of the " old regime" and disgusted with 
the Jesuitic manners, set again in fashion by their new masters. 
But his fire had kindled again to be soon extinguished at Waterloo ; 
and, thence, on the rock of St. Helena. 

These papal kingdoms, instead of repenting of their idolatry and 
superstitions, blasphemed the name of God, which had power over 
these plagues. They returned to the gods of Eome, to be delivered 
by them, from their calamities. Though Napoleon despised the 



COMMENTARY. 167 

papal impostures, he made alliance with popery ) and by a blind 
policy delivered France to the popes, by placing at the disposition 
of their agents, the edifices, temples, parsonages, and Episcopal 
palaces. In his policy, he did not consult either the rights of God 
or of his word ; he raised up again the dark kingdom of the beast ; 
and his policy, wise to the eyes of men, caused his ruin, and, with 
it, new plagues. 



Fifth Vial 



V. 10, 11. "And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the 
beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness ; and they gnawed their tongues 
for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and 
their sores, and repented not of their deeds." 

Napoleon had arrived to the height of power and glory. But 
the God, who had given him power to scorch men with fire, had 
set limits to the course of his success. The retreat of Moscow, the 
destruction of his powerful army, the inundation of France, by the 
numerous armies of all united powers, and the return of the Bour- 
bons, with a numerous train of Jesuits and missionary soldiers, all 
these misfortunes are emblematically represented by the fifth vial, 
poured out especially upon France ; because she had again entered 
into the alliance of popery; and God, in his wrath, gave again to 
the French, the ancient regime and Jesuitism, which they abhor. 
Soon after, all the liberal institutions of the revolution of 1793, 
were abolished. The liberty of the press was chained ; the prisons 
were filled with men condemned for political crimes ; the system of 
privileges was re-established, and the Jesuit could again bestow the 
kingly favors upon the cringing hypocrite. All these calamities, 
which fell at once on France, are represented under the image of 
" the kingdom which was full of darkness." It is under the same 
image, " the sun became black as sackcloth of hair" (6 : 12), that 
the defeat of Maxentius and Licinius, by the army of Constantine, 
is represented by the prophet. And as, at the sounding of the 
fifth trumpet (9:1, 2), the man of sin, the great Antichrist, was 
manifested in 606, by the opening of the bottomless pit, out of 
which arose popery, and the Dark Ages, and out of popery there 
arose a smoke, by which the sun and the air were darkened ; so, 
at the restoration of popery in France, and thence, in all the other 
papal kingdoms, we see again, under the image of " darkness," 
which envelops the kingdom as with a thick veil, ignorance, super- 
stition, tyranny, arising out of the ancient regime and popery, 
healed from the wound thev had received in 1793. 



168 COMMENTARY. 

The men, upon which there fell a noisome and grievous sore (in- 
fidelity and anarchy), are always entrapped with the fetters of 
tyranny, instead of obtaining the liberty for which they are always 
fighting. " They gnawed their tongues for pain, at the sight of 
their calamities." Instead of returning to the Lord, and to the 
word of his power, which would make them free and happy (John 
8 : 32-36), they blaspheme the God of heaven, and they repent 
not of their deeds. They build up systems of impiety ; they enter- 
tain, in their unsettled imaginations, the foolish conceit of Fourier- 
ism, of Cabetism ; and, under the pretence of reforming society, by 
making of it an atheistical communism, they attempt to destroy it. 
These destructive systems originate from a blind policy, which 
submits the people to the hateful yoke of men, whom they look upon 
with contempt, and to a religion — whose absurd teachings are 
known to every one, as well as the tyrannical ambition and avidity 
of her ministers, — instead of giving them the word of God, that 
they should worship him in spirit and in truth, that their souls and 
minds should be subjugated, their hearts purified, and their affec- 
tions and thoughts raised up to the God by whom they were created, 
and who alone can accomplish these things. 



Sixth Vial. 



V. 12-16. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river 
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings 
of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs 
come put of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and 
out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, 
working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole 
world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his 
garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered 
them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." 

At the sounding of the sixth trumpet, the four angels, or sul- 
tanies, which were bound, either by the waters of the Euphrates 
River, or by the Crusaders, were loosed to destroy the Eastern 
Empire, by the taking of Constantinople (9 : 14) ; at the pouring 
out of the sixth vial, upon the same river Euphrates, its water was 
dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. 
This river Euphrates is, then, the symbol of the Turkish power; 
and " to dry up its waters" signifies evidently to weaken, annihi- 
late, this power ; that it could oppose no barrier to prevent the 
coming of the kings of the East, as a river, whose water is dried 
up, is no longer a bulwark for the kingdom whose frontiers were 



COMMENTARY. 169 

once protected by its waters. Now, the actual weakness of this 
empire is known by everybody. In 1821-1825, the Greeks re- 
gained their independence ; some years after, the Russians ad- 
vanced to the gates of Constantinople ; and had not the English 
fleet stood against Egypt, this country would have also regained 
its independence. The Turkish power is then, now, of no account 
at all ; and in weakening this power, the Lord is preparing the 
way to the kings of the East, that they should come, and worship 
at Jerusalem. But who are these kings, and for what purpose are 
they to come ? 

It is supposed by some that they are the Jews, who shall come 
to take again possession of Judea. But the Jews would come not 
only from the East, but also from every country of the world ; for 
they are scattered towards the four winds of heaven. Scott, after 
Moore, thinks that it is asserted of the Afghanistan, warlike 
people, whom he supposes to be the posterity of the ten Jewish 
tribes; and he thinks that these people, coming from the East, 
will invade Europe, and shall be the instrumentality of the Lord's 
vengeance upon the kingdoms subjected to popery. But he forgets 
that the ministers of the Lord's vengeance are the same people, 
who had received the mark of the beast (17 : 16, 17); "for God 
hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give 
their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be ful- 
filled." Therefore, these kings, who must come from the East, 
are all the Eastern people, who are still in the darkness of idolatry 
and Islamism ; and the Ottoman Empire has been weakened, in 
order that it could not oppose the preaching of the gospel, and the 
setting up of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, in the countries beyond 
the river Euphrates, as well as in the Western countries. They 
will come, not to conquer and destroy ; but to be united with us, 
by the bonds of the same faith, baptism, and to adore the same 
Saviour, the same blessed God, forever and ever. 

" And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the 
mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out 
of the mouth of the false prophet." The dragon is the old serpent, 
called the devil and Satan (12 : 9), the father of lies, and the great 
accuser of the Christians. The beast is the Roman Empire, which 
has become the papal empire ; and the false prophet is the pope — 
the Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess (2 : 20) — united 
with the kings by the bonds of his religion, which they enforce 
upon the people of their kingdoms. The dragon, the beast, and 
the false prophet are then leagued together; for the dragon gave 
the beast his power, and his seat, and great authority (13 : 2). 
"Three unclean spirits like frogs," low, cringing, mean, and living 

15 



170 COMMENTARY. 

in the niiry clay, came " out of the mouth of the dragon/ ' that is, 
lies and false accusations ; " and out of the mouth of the beast," 
infernal policy, attempting to subvert the spiritual liberty of the peo- 
ple; "and out of the mouth of the false prophet," imposture, lying, 
wonders, false accusations against the saints of the Lord, foretelling 
woes to the kings, unless they destroy Protestantism, and forbid the 
liberty of worship. 

As these unclean spirits are said to be three, it has been sup- 
posed that they represented the monks, Dominicans, Franciscans, 
and Jesuits. But they are said to be three, only because they 
come from three different sources — from Satan, from the civil 
power, and from the false prophet ; and they may be found in the 
same person or in the same class of men, as for instance, in what we 
call "'Jesuitism," in which we find impiety, coming out of the mouth 
of Satan ; tyranny, coming from the mouth of kings ; and supersti- 
tion and idolatry, from the mouth or religion of the false prophet. 
"For they .are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go 
forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather 
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." 

" They are the spirits of devils," men teaching to worship the 
saints, who are like the demigods, the devils of Paganism (1 Tim. 
4 ; 1-4); and those who teach these pagan doctrines, are called 
"false doctors — working miracles" — lying wonders, as those of the 
pictures of Rimini, winking of the eyes and shedding of tears. 
" Which go forth unto the kings of the earth (Catholic kings) and 
of the whole world (Protestant or Greek, as England and Russia), 
to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty," 
directing their conscience, and arming their prejudices to destroy 
the liberty of worship, and to give the last blow to the liberties of 
the peoples. The words " they go forth unto the kings," show us 
that the unclean spirits belong, not to the mouth of the beast (civil 
powers), but to the mouth of the false prophet. The dragon gives 
his power and authority ; the beast accomplishes with his brutish 
constraint; and the false prophet pronounces his lying oracles, in 
the name of God, saying that, unless they destroy all liberties, there 
is no safety for their kingdoms. Therefore, it is evident that, under 
the emblems of these three unclean spirits,, the prophet characterizes 
these persons, who favor and provoke this tyrannical policy, which, 
by any means and deceits, deprives the people of liberty, and im- 
poses upon them an Antichristian religion, in order that they should 
be subdued and ruled, as the animals which are under the yoke. 
And this class of persons is known, under the denomination of 
"Jesuitism," whatever may be in other respects the name by 
which they are denominated. 



COMMENTARY. 171 

In 1830, the same class of persons advised Charles X. to decree 
his ordinances destructive to liberty; and his throne was over- 
turned. The infidel Louis Philippe, surrounded with the same 
persons, became a bigoted king, who went so far as to prevent the 
deputies from uniting together for a public dinner; and he was 
dethroned. We shall soon hear also of the dreadful doom of 
Napoleon III. The Antichristian league, which they decorate 
with the fair name of " Holy Alliance/' has been recently revived 
to give the finishing blow to the civil and religious liberties. But 
it is written that the work of the wicked is deceitful ; and what- 
ever they may attempt to do, they will only hasten "that great 
day of God Almighty." For he it is who overrules their secret 
plots, and will gather them, according to their contrivance, for 
their own ruin, "into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Ar- 
mageddon/' which means "the mountain of carnage." (Read the 
sublime song of Deborah, concerning the defeat of Sisera, near the 
waters of Megiddo, which is supposed to be the ' same as Arma- 
geddon ; Judges 5 and Joel 3.) 

"Behold, I come as a thief," says the Lord; "blessed is he 
that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and 
they see his shame." By comparing these words with the letter 
to the Church of the Laodiceans, in which we find the same 
words (3 : 14-22), we have a new proof that this letter is truly the 
emblem of the state of the Church, before the coming of our Lord. 
Awake, then, Protestants, from your slumber ! Show your- 
selves the worthy heirs of the faith of your fathers ; for your Pro- 
testantism will do you no good, unless you keep your garments, 
and have the wedding garment to cover your nakedness, when you 
shall appear before the Lord, at that great day, which is called 
" the marriage supper of the Lamb." It is the Lamb himself who 
will gather the kings into the mountain of destruction, though the 
men, out of the mouth of which come the unclean spirits, are 
engaged in the same work for another purpose ; for the Almighty 
permits that the wicked should be themselves the authors of their 
own ruin, whilst they are plotting the ruin of their fellow-men. 



Seventh Vial. 



V. 17-21. "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and 
there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, 
saying, It is done, And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; 
and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon 
the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was 
divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell : and great Babylon 



172 COMMENTARY. 

came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of 
the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the moun- 
tains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, 
every stone about the weight of a talent : and men blasphemed God because 
of the plague of the hail ; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." 

Here is the last vial of the wrath of God. It is poured out into 
the air (Eph. 2:2; 6 : 12), upon principalities, powers, rulers of 
the darkness of this world, and upon spiritual wickedness (popery) 
in high places. And, behold, the Lord will make all things new. 
The great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, on 
which the Lord sat, and out of which proceed all events (4 : 5) 
has pronounced these dreadful words : " It is done." The mystery 
of God is finished, and there is time no longer. God will now 
avenge the outrages done to his Church and to his covenant, which 
are emblematically represented by the temple, out of which came 
the great voice, saying, " It is done :" and there were voices, and 
thunders, and lightnings, which are the forerunners of the political 
commotions, indicated by the " great earthquake, so mighty and so 
great, such as was not since men were upon the earth." 

I am neither a prophet, nor son of a prophet ; but I am com- 
menting upon the most wonderful prophecy ; and if, in following, 
step by step, the emblems by w T hich the prophet gives us the 
history of the Church, of her trials and triumphs, and explaining 
them, according to their nature, and the explanation given by the 
prophet himself, we have been enabled to find exactly, and in the 
most faithful order, the facts recorded in history : this great and 
mighty earthquake, — this great and mighty political convulsion, 
such as was not since men were upon earth, — was accomplished 
these last years, when all the thrones of the earth (papal kingdoms) 
were shaken, and when, the pope and the king of France were 
obliged to flee in disguise to escape for their life. It is evident, 
that the three unclean spirits of the preceding vial continue to go 
to the kings, doing their infernal work, to the time of the great 
battle of Armageddon, and that the harvest will go on, to gather 
the good seed, to the time of the vintage, which is the same battle 
of destruction ; for we have seen often the plagues, indicated by 
two seals or two trumpets, taking place at the same time. There- 
fore, if these events, which have shaken at the same time France, 
Italy, Sardinia, Austria, Hungary, and even Ireland, are, in fact, 
the events represented by this great and mighty earthquake, the 
papal kings may use whatever policy they can imagine, the Lord 
shall overcome ; and they shall drink, with the pope, the dregs of 
the cup of the wrath of God, which shall be soon poured out. 
History does not proceed any longer. Here are the events of this 



COMMENTARY. 173 

wonderful prophecy, which are yet to be accomplished, before the 
Lord makes all things new. 

"And the great city was divided into three parts." The great 
city, called the great whore (17 : 1, 18), is the city of Rome, taken 
for the seat of Antichrist, and for all the kingdoms under his spiri- 
tual sway. Therefore, all these Catholic kingdoms, whose cities 
are called " the cities of the nations," because they profess, like the 
Gentiles, an idolatrous religion, shall be divided into three political 
parties ; Republicans, Bonapartists, Henriquinquists or Philipists ) 
for the event only will decide it. But, what we can certify in ad- 
vance, is that the cities of the people infected by the papal idola- 
try — the cities of the nations — shall be overthrown ; and that great 
Babylon, Rome itself, called Babylon, because she used as this 
sister city, to cast into a fiery furnace or into the den of lions 
(Dan. 3 and 6) the servants of God, who refused to worship her 
images, or addressed their requests to another God than her own 
gods, shall come in remembrance before God, and that he will give 
her " the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." We 
have seen (14 : 18-20) what kind of wine it is ; and we have 
(19 : 11-12) the description of this vintage : u the blood of the 
prophets, and of the saints, and of all that were slain upon the 
earth, was found in her f and the Lord will give her blood to drink 
(Joel 3 : 1-21). It is not, then, by the flight or disguise of a 
pope that the empire of Antichrist must finish. The mystic 
Babylon must drink of the cup of the wrath of God ; she must be 
filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment 
and desolation; she must disappear suddenly and with violence 
from the earth, as a great millstone cast into the sea (18 : 21). 
They wondered, not long ago, when the pope again ascended the 
papal throne ; and his supporters inferred from that that papal Rome 
sits a queen, and shall see no sorrow. But it was necessary that 
the pope should be re-established on his throne, in order that the 
judgments of God could be accomplished. Daniel says (7 : 26), 
"that the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his domi- 
nion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end." Now, this 
judgment could not be accomplished by his flight in disguise ; and 
again, we have, in the nineteenth and twentieth chapter, the de- 
scription of the end of the papal empire, saying : " And the beast 
was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles 
before him, with which he deceived them that had received the 
mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These 
both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." 
So, the kingdoms under the papal dominion, the kings and the 
pope, the bishops and cardinals, and all the supporters of tyranny 

15* 



174 COMMENTARY. 

and idolatry, shall be swept away, in the day of the wrath of God, 
with a besom of destruction : " And every island fled away, and the 
mountains were not found." 

After the victories of Constantine over Maxentius and Licinius, 
it is said, " And every mountain and island were moved out of 
their places" (6 : 14), and we have seen that these emblems 
" mountains and islands" moved out of their places, meant that 
the civil and religious powers passed from the heathens to the 
Christians. Consequently, in giving these emblems the same signi- 
fication, we have for the first, " And every island fled away." All 
the papal or ecclesiastical powers, the pope, cardinals, bishops, 
archbishops, priests, and monks, fled away ; and for the second, 
" And the mountains were not found," and the kings were found 
no more : all the kingdoms of the earth are become the kingdoms 
of the Lord (Dan. 2 : 44). 

" And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every 
stone about the weight of a talent." "We have seen already that 
under the emblem of "hail," which destroys the harvest, the pro- 
phet represents the wars, which destroy men and kingdoms as the 
hail destroys the harvest. But no war was ever so bloody as that 
spoken of here, under the emblem of " every stone about the 
weight of a talent." It will be the work of the Lord, for the hail fell 
"out of heaven ;" and he makes use, not only of armies to destroy 
his enemies, but he has yet in his power, the famine and pesti- 
lence, to reap the wicked which have been preserved from the de- 
struction of the war (18 : 8). "And men blasphemed God be- 
cause of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof — war, 
famine, and pestilence, — was exceeding great." The papist and the 
unconverted Protestant, who has also the mark of the beast, by his 
infidelity, can still come to the throne of grace, and take refuge 
under the wings of the Almighty. At the time of the plague, it 
will be too late : they shall blaspheme God instead of repenting, 
when they shall be suddenly overwhelmed by these plagues ; be- 
cause they did not seek the Lord, when he was easy to be found. 
Let us not wait until it shall be too late 5 for the Lord is at the 
door. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

DESCRIPTION OE A GREAT WHORE — HER CHARACTERS. 

This chapter is as the key to the Revelation. The prophet ex- 
plains here the most difficult emblems, under which the masterpiece 



COMMENTARY. 175 

of Satan has been represented in the thirteenth chapter. The great 
city, which is the seat of this empire, which we saw arising out of 
its ruins, and to which was given a mouth speaking great things 
and blasphemies, is called a great whore, that sitteth upon many 
waters ; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornica- 
tion, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with 
the wine of her fornication. From the description of the prophet 
himself, we can learn : 1. What is that great whore. 2. Where is 
her dwelling-place. 3. The first time of her existence. 4. The 
acts of her reign. 5. And what shall be her end. As the popes 
have been pointed out, in the course of this exposition, as "the 
man of sin, the son of perdition/' generally called " Antichrist/' 
and his Church, as the great whore, it is important to examine at- 
tentively whether the characters, given here, may be applied to the 
Roman Church, and to its head, — and to them alone. 

Let us remember first, that Rome is built upon seven mountains 
called the " Mounts Aventine, Capitoline, Coelius, Esquiline, Palatine, 
Quirinal, and Viminal." 2. That she had seven forms of government, 
" kings, consuls, decemviri, tribunes, dictators, emperors, exarchs 
or dukes/' and that popedom is the eighth. 8. That the Roman 
Empire was destroyed by ten barbarian people : " the Huns, Alains, 
Goths (divided into Visigoths and Ostrogoths, or eastern and 
western Goths), Franks, Saxons, Suevi, Vandals, Bourguignons 
Heruli, and Lombards." That these barbarians, incorporated with 
the ancient inhabitants, formed ten kingdoms out of the ruins of 
the Roman Empire, and that three of them — those of the Ostro- 
goths, Heruli, and Lombards, — were given to the bishops of Rome, 
by the kings of France, Pepin, Charlemagne, and Louis the Pious. 
These ten barbarian nations, are represented by the prophet Daniel, 
under the emblem of " the ten horns of the fourth beast/' and 
popedom, under that of a " little horn," diverse from the others, 
and before which, three of the former fell. All these people — the 
French, and all those who are of the same origin, — the English, 
and all those who are of the Saxon origin, — the Spaniards, and all 
those who are of the same origin, and speak the same' language, — 
the Italians, and so with the other nations, — formed as many king- 
doms, which, having received the papal religion, became as so many 
provinces, tributary to the papal empire, which was in this manner 
an image of the first Roman pagan empire. For papal Rome has, 
as well as the pagan, her sovereign pontiff, her priesthood, and 
vestal virgins ; she has her supreme God, together with saints and 
saintessess, or demigods; she has also a queen of heaven, feasts and 
fasts, penances and flagellations, to obtain forgiveness of sins ; she 
has lying wonders and processions, offerings and sprinklings, vows 



176 COMMENTARY. 

and conjuring words; so that papal Rome, is both in civil govern- 
ment and religious worship, an image of the pagan Roman Empire. 

V. 1, 2. "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven 
vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither ; I will show unto 
thee the judgment of the great whore, that sitteth upon many waters ; with 
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants 
of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." 

The waters, upon which the great whore sitteth, " are peoples, 
and multitudes, and nations, and tongues ;" that is, the barbarians 
who destroyed the Roman Empire ; and the woman (the religion), 
called the " great whore," is "that great city, which reigneth over 
the kings of the earth" (verse 15, 18). When the Pope has 
decided some theological question, we say by metonymy, or trans- 
position of names, "Eome has spoken, the affair is ended;" in the 
same manner, the city is taken for the chief, who has his seat there, 
and for the religion, called the great whore, through which he 
reigns over the kings of the earth. Therefore, this great whore is 
the city taken for the religion, which her king propagates among 
those different nations. The Papist Vega, Yiegas and Ribera, 
concur in the opinion that Rome is evidently pointed out by the 
prophet in his description of the city ; and the Cardinal Bellarmine 
confesses, that it cannot be understood otherwise. But some main- 
tain, that pagan Rome is there spoken of; and the others think 
that Catholic Rome will apostatize at the end of the world. What- 
ever may be their opinion, it is thus granted by popish doctors that 
Rome, either pagan or papal, is the seat of Antichrist. 

11 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornica- 
tion." In the style of the holy writings, a whore represents an 
idolatrous Church (Ez. 23) ; the Christians, who apostatize from 
Christianity, to follow her idolatrous worship, commit " adultery;" 
and " fornication," if they are but nominal Christians (2 : 22); for 
they have been repudiated ; and Jesus is not the bridegroom of 
such churches. The kings of the earth have made an impure 
alliance with that great whore, in receiving her idolatrous doc- 
trines, and in enforcing them upon their subjects (13 : 5-9), who 
" have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." As 
men are deprived of reason and understanding by the excess of 
wine, so Papists, who have imbibed her poisonous doctrines, are 
deprived of reason and understanding, and are induced to trample 
under foot the holy law of God, and to commit in his holy name, 
the most atrocious crimes. Pagan Rome did not impose the wor- 
ship of her gods upon the nations, which she had vanquished ; on 
the contrary, she gave to their own gods an honorable place in the 



COMMENTARY. 177 

capitol of Jupiter. Therefore, the characters, described here by 
the prophet, are true only as applied to papal Rome. 

V. 3-5. " So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I 
saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, 
having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple 
and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls, 
having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and fLlthiness of her 
fornication : and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon 
the Great, the mother of harlots and abomination of the earth. 

The prophet, being under a powerful agency of the Holy Ghost, 
was carried into the wilderness, where he saw " a woman (a reli- 
gion 12 : 1; Ez. 23), sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names 
of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. " We have seen 
already the description of this beast (13 : 1-4), which is the emblem 
of the Eoman Empire, whose provinces were divided among the ten 
barbarian nations, by which it was destroyed. Every one knows 
that the Pope and his cardinals are arrayed, as were formerly the 
Koman emperors, "in purple and scarlet color/' so that the woman, 
that sits upon the throne of the Caesars, and to whom she has suc- 
ceeded, is made an image of the beast, which had the wound by 
the sword of the barbarians, not only in power, government, and 
idolatrous worship, but also in her gorgeous array. She despises 
the simplicity of the evangelical worship, in spirit and in truth, and 
glories in the riches of the earth, in the pomp of a dazzling wor- 
ship, and in the magnificence of priestly vestments. The "golden 
cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornica- 
tion/' is the emblem of her power and riches, which are the fruits 
of her ambition, and of her apostacy; and the abominations and 
filthiness of which it is full, are her mock sacrifices for the living 
and for the dead, the annats, investitures, dispensations, indulgences, 
and her tariff for the forgiveness of small and great offences. But 
whatever may be her hellish impositions, the inhabitants of the 
earth are willing .to drink the poisonous wine, by which they are 
made drunk, because the cup is of gold. They are promised riches, 
honors, and civil and ecclesiastical dignities ; they are permitted to 
enjoy peacefully, the delights of the present life, while Protestants 
are hunted and destroyed like wild beasts : " If thou wilt worship 
me/' said Satan to Jesus, "all shall be thine '/' arid so did the great 
whore throughout the past ages. 

But how is it that this great whore, that reigns over many people, 
and multitudes, and nations, and which boasts to be Catholic, be- 
cause she has churches over all the face of the earthy could be seen. 



178 COMMENTARY. 

sitting upon the scarlet-colored beast, in a wilderness ? St. Paul 
speaks of the heathens, as of u things that are not •" because the 
multitudes of people who worship idols, are but nought before God. 
There is not to be found, in all the extent of the empire of the 
king-priest, either a Bible or a real faith in the Saviour ; there is 
neither true sacrifice, nor true worship, nor true Mediator, nor 
atonement : there is but a priest with his fanciful power ; saints, 
images, relics, blessed water and tapers, as mediators, to deliver 
from the devil, and good works, to reconcile them with God; 
and consequently, however immense may be the empire of the 
great whore, it is but a wilderness, without water and without 
the bread of life. Everywhere in the empire of the great whore, 
men are taught to believe that the popes are " the representatives of 
God on the earth — vicars of Jesus Christ;" "infallible;" " above 
the word of God ; w " that they have the keys of heaven and hell 
either to save or damn •" " and that out of their religion there is 
no salvation." And these men, whose throne stands upon a sea of 
blood, and whose crimes are written with a pen of iron, and with 
the point of a diamond, in the annals of history, and in the book of 
remembrance before God, style themselves " His Holiness !" and 
the kings of the earth, who are leagued with them to enforce their 
Antichristian religion upon their subjects, and to destroy the ser- 
vants of the Lord, are adorned with the titles of " Most Christian 
Kings I" Their idolatry is called " Christianity, the True Church 
of Jesus Christ ;" and true Christianity is styled by them " Abomi- 
nable heresy," and the true worshippers are hunted and destroyed 
like wild beasts ! " And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored 
beast, full of names of blasphemy !" 

" And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon 
the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." 
Here is the mystery of the great whore. There is upon her fore- 
head a mysterious inscription, whose meaning and value, according 
to the judgment of God, is " Babylon the great, the mother of 
harlots and abominations of the earth 5" and this name or inscrip- 
tion is, " the Roman church, the first and mother of all churches, 
out of which there is no salvation :" which assumption, in the sight 
of God, is equivalent to u the mystic Babylon, the mother of harlots 
(churches), and the cause of infidelity, idolatry, tyranny, impiety, 
sacrilege, immoralities, thefts, and murders — of all the abomina- 
tions of the earth." The word " mystery," at the head of the 
inscription, admonishes us that the name, written upon her fore- 
head, is not " Babylon the great f but that it is the mysterious or 
hidden meaning of another, which is known by everybody, since it 
is written upon her forehead. 



COMMENTARY. 179 

V. 6, 7. " And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and 
with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus : and when I saw her, I wondered 
with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou 
marvel ? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that 
carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns/' 

The Abbot Frayssinous confesses (conferences religicuses) that 
there has been, every year, an average of six thousand victims of 
the papal religion ; and he insinuates that such a number of martyrs 
of its intolerance, is nothing in comparison with the great good she 
has conferred upon society. But the benefits of Christianity, which 
the Koman Church claims to herself, do not belong to her. Popery 
exists only from the beginning of the seventh century; and she 
can glory only of the calamities, which have since been inflicted 
upon mankind — of having built superb cathedrals to gratify her 
pride and vanity — and of having preserved in her monasteries the 
precious works of the great men of antiquity. But what is that, 
for the riches of the earth, which she possessed, and in comparison 
with the evils which she has done ? We know already the mas- 
sacres of St. Bartholomew's Day, and those of Ireland ; the crusades 
against' the Albigenses and Waldenses ; the wars against Bohemia 
and Moravia; and the dragoonings of Louis XIV.. We can add 
the twelve millions of the natives of America, who were slaugh- 
tered like wild beasts, by the Spaniards commanded by the monks, 
as well as the millions of victims of the Inquisition in Goa and 
in the countries which were under her dominion. According to 
the reckoning of the victims of the Inquisition . in Spain, during 
■339 years, extracted from the books of the inquisitors, the number 
amounts to 34,658 souls, sent into hell, after having been cursed by 
the inquisitors, before burning at the stake ; to 18,049 burned in 
effigy ; and to 288,214 condemned to prison or to the galleys. This, 
number, for Spain alone, makes more than 1000 victims every year; 
therefore, instead of an average. of 6000 a year, we can treble this 
number. And yet, though the number of victims should be only 
an average of 6000 a year, or of 100, or even of 10 victims, could 
such a religion boast to be the religion of the meek and holy Son 
of God ? That is the reason for which the prophet " wondered 
with great admiration," at seeing this Boman Church, whose,, faith 
was spoken of throughout the whole world (Bom. 1 : 8), " drunken 
with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of 
Jesus," and being, now, an idolatrous and tyrannical Babylon, cast- 
ing into a fiery furnace, or into dark dungeons, the servants of 
God, who refused to kneel down before her images, and dared to 
invoke and worship God in the manner which he has appointed. 
All these characters designate evidently the papal church ; and if 



180 COMMENTARY. 

there is still some incertitude in our minds, the prophet will tell us 
yet more clearly the mystery of the woman and of the beast that 
carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 

V. 8. " The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; and shall ascend out 
of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth 
shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the 
foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, 
and yet is." 

This verse, which at first reading, seems to be an inexplicable 
riddle, offers no difficulty, if we remember that the Roman Empire, 
which overruled all the world, was, according to the prophet Daniel, 
to be destroyed by ten people, and to be restored again, out of its 
ruins, by the kings of these people, and by another diverse from 
the first ; and this empire thus restored was to be consumed and 
destroyed a second time, that the kingdom of the Lord should be set 
up. Therfore the meaning is, " the beast that thou sawest was" (the 
Roman Empire which thou sawest existed), " and is not" (after its 
destruction); " and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit" (out of 
its ruins, 13 : 1-4), " and go into perdition •" and the inhabitants 
of the earth, whose names were not written in the book of life from 
the foundation of the world, shall wonder, " when they behold the 
beast that was" (before its fall), "and is not" (after having been 
destroyed by the barbarians), "and yet is" (and yet exists by the 
power which the popes exercise over the subjects of the kingdoms, 
which have been formed out of the ruins of the same empire). It 
will be the same Antichristian and idolatrous empire ; and though 
it will persecute and destroy the saints of the Lord, worldly men 
shall obey its laws, and shall wonder at the Satanic wisdom, by 
which the Church, united together with the State, was enabled to 
enforce, upon every man, the chimera of the unity of the Church, 
under a terrestrial chief, clothed with the attributes of the divinity. 
That was the masterpiece of Satan, which we have examined pre- 
viously : " And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like 
unto the beast ? Who is able to make war with him ?" (13 :4.) 

This unnatural union of the State and Church is represented by 
the prophet Daniel (2 : 43), under the image of iron mixed with 
clay in the toes of the feet of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar ; 
and the second existence of the Roman Empire is also clearly fore- 
told, by the same prophet, in his prophecy concerning the four 
great monarchies, which were to hold the sceptre of the kingdom 
of this world, to the setting up of the kingdom of the Lord. 

After having represented the first three great monarchies, 
namely, that of the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, that of the 



COMMENTARY. 181 

Medes and Persians, under Cyras; and that of the Greeks, under 
Alexander, under the respective symbols of a lion, a bear, and a 
leopard, the prophet says : " After this I saw in the night visions, 
and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceed- 
ingly ; and it had great iron teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, 
and stamped the residue with the feet of it : and it was diverse 
from all the beasts that were before it ; and it had ten horns. I 
considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them 
another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns 
plucked up by the roots : and, behold, in this horn were eyes like 
men, and a mouth speaking great things;" that is, though the 
king, represented by this little horn, we^e but an ambitious, worldly 
man, seeing the things of this world and eternity, with the eyes of 
a natural, irreligious man, he had a religion, boasting of great 
things, to be as a god on the earth, and having all power on earth 
and in heaven. 

The prophet wishing to know the truth of the fourth beast, "and 
of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which 
came up, and before whom three fell ; even of that horn that had 
eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was 
more stout than his fellows" (the most powerful kings were but the 
vassals of the popes), he beheld, " and the same horn made war 
with the saints, and prevailed against them ; until the Ancient of 
Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most high; 
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom, thus he" 
(one of them that stood by) said, The fourth beast shall be the 
fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all king- 
doms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, 
and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are 
ten kings that shall arise (after its destruction); "and another shall 
rise after them" (popery in 606); " and he shall be diverse from 
the first" (as a king-priest is diverse from the kings), " and he 
shall subdue three kings" (Heruli, Visigoths and the Lombards). 
" And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall 
wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times 
and laws" (showing the arrogance of his pretensions and his rash- 
ness in adding his laws to the commands of God, and declaring 
that his power is above the word of God) : " and they shall be 
given into his hands until a time, and times and the dividing of 
time ;" that is, 1260 years (Dan. 7 : 7-27). 

We may see from this prophecy of Daniel, which is as the nucleus 
of the book of Revelation, that the fourth monarchy — that of the 
Roman Empire — has two existences, the first represented by the 
beast itself ; and the second, by the ten horns, or ten kinors tha* 

16 



182 COMMENTARY. 

shall arise out of it ; and by the little horn, whose look was more 
stout than his fellows, and before whom three of the first felL The 
following passage of our prophet will show evidently that the same 
beast is alluded to in either of the prophets, and that the pope is 
the little horn, diverse from the others, and which arose after the 
first. 

V. 9-12. " And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads 
are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven 
kings : five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come : and when 
he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is 
not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And 
the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no 
kingdom as yet ; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast." 

" And here is the mind" (the explanation of the mystery of the 
beast for him) " which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven 
mountains, on which the woman" (the great city; verse 18, and by 
metonymy the great papal religion) " sitteth. And there are seven 
kings" (seven forms of government, indicated by the seven crowns 
upon his heads, 12 : 8). When the prophet saw this vision, " five 
are fallen," namely, the kings, consuls, decemviri, tribunes, and 
dictators, "and one is," to wit, the emperors; "and the other is 
not yet come," the Ravenna's exarchs, under which Rome was but 
a Dukedom, which was under their power about one hundred 
years. " And the beast that was, and is not" (the Roman Empire 
which was then, and which was to be destroyed by the barba- 
rians), even the same empire " he is the eighth" (the eighth form 
of government raised up out of its ruins). Is there any possibility 
to see, in this description, anything else than popedom, the eighth 
form and the image of the Roman Empire ? Again, " and is of 
the seven :" that is, has succeeded to the first seven forms of 
government, " and goeth into perdition," having only 1260 years 
of existence, " given her for repentance, and she repented not" 
(2:21). 

"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which 
have received no kingdom as yet (at the time of the prophecy) ; 
but receive power as kings one hour with the beast," the emblem 
of the papal empire, the second beast of the thirteenth chapter. 
Daniel says, that the little horn, the emblem of popedom, diverse 
from the first, and whose look was more stout than his fellows, 
" shall rise after them, and shall subdue three kings," namely 
Odoacer, Theodoric, and Alboin, or the Heruli, Ostrogoths, and the 
Lombards. Therefore the date of the existence of Antichrist is 
clearly determined by either of the prophets. 

Though the mystery of iniquity did already work in the time of 



COMMENTARY. 183 

St. Paul, the man of sin, the son of perdition, could not be mani- 
fested before the overthrow of the Roman Empire (2 Th. 2 : 7-12). 
The key of the bottomless pit, of the ruins of that empire, was 
given, as we have seen previously (9 : 1, 2), to a fallen angel, or 
bishop, namely, to Boniface III., who opened the bottomless pit of 
its destruction, and brought forth out of it popery and the Dark 
Ages. According to St. John, the kings, who divided among 
themselves the spoils of the Roman Empire, should receive power 
as kings, at the same time with the beast, representing popedom ; 
and, according to Daniel (7 : 24), popedom should rise after them, 
and subdue three of these kings. But the former says only that they 
shall receive power as kings, at the same time, as it is true that the 
bishops of Rome enjoyed an imperial authority and power among 
the barbarians, and commenced, then, to regulate political mat- 
ters ; and the latter says that the little horn (the king-priest) 
diverse from the first, shall rise or be manifested after the others, 
as it is true according to history. Hence we may infer that the 
great Antichrist, the man of sin, was to be revealed neither under 
pagan Rome, nor under papal Rome, at the end of the world; but 
after the destruction of the empire'. The great whore, sitting on 
the throne of the Caesars, is the eighth form of government of this 
empire, and the image, in its horns, of the empire represented 
under the emblem of the beast, which was wounded to death, and 
whose deadly wound was healed by popedom : " And the beast that 
was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the" seven" (in- 
heriting from them), " and goeth into perdition." 

V. 13, 14. " These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength 
unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall 
overcome them : for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings : and they that 
are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." 

"These have one mind." The kings of the earth have often- 
times been trodden under foot of the popes; many times they had 
wars with them, and their kingdoms have often been groaning 
under the covetous papal exactions; but,' notwithstanding that, 
they have always been slavishly submissive to their idolatrous 
religion, — always ready to support their infernal traffic of holy 
things, — to protect their tyranny and pretensions, — to obey their 
orders to make war with the disciples of Jesus Christ, and to 
destroy Christianity out of their kingdoms : so, the kings and the 
popes had "one mind;" and the kings gave "their power and 
strength unto the beast," to make war with the redeemed; but, in 
so doing, they were making war with the Lamb ; for this cause, 
he will break them in pieces in the day of his wrath. For he it is, 



184 COMMENTARY. 

— not the pope, — who is Lord of lords and King of kings. Like- 
wise, they are not the followers of the popes, those that are 
" called, and chosen, and faithful ;" but they are those who are 
with the Lamb, who read his word, and keep his commandments, 
though they be hunted like wild beasts, and killed by the kings 
and the popes united together; — this unity of mind and purpose 
between the kings and the popes, — the iron mixed with the miry 
clay, — is yet true and conformed to history. 

V. 15-18. "And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where 
the whore sitteth, are peoples, and nlultitudes, and nations, and tongues. 
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the 
whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and 
burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and 
to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall 
be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which 
reigneth over the kings of the earth." 

The Roman Church boasts to be the Catholic Church, because 
her doctrines are taught and professed throughout all the world. 
But the catholicity of a church does not consist in her being 
known and professed everywhere ; but in her teaching the same 
doctrines, which have been taught at all times by the Christian 
churches, to the time of the apostles. Now, if we compare the 
teachings of the Roman Church with those of the primitive 
churches, whose teachings are found in the gospels and in the 
epistles of the apostles to the same churches, we find that there is 
between them a great chasm ; and either Papal Rome or the Pri- 
mitive Church, Jerusalem, &c, is not a Christian, a Catholic 
Church. Therefore, the Roman Church is not Catholic, though 
she has the name, and though she reigns, as a queen, over many 
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues ; that is, over 
the barbarians, who destroyed the Roman Empire; for it is 
under that denomination that they are alluded to by the prophet 
(10:11). But the same people, called in our days, " English, 
French, Dutch, Germans, Austrians, Spaniards, Italians, Portu- 
guese," shall hate the whore, " and shall make her desolate, and 
naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire;" that is, 
they shall rise up against her, and shall take away her riches and 
power ; they shall sell her rich domains, seigniories, abbeys, and 
monasteries, which are " her flesh ;" because, through her riches, 
she was enabled to live deliciously; and so they " shall eat her 
flesh," when they shall strip her of her wealth, and rich estates, 
and kingdom. 

These predictions have already been accomplished to the letter, 



COMMENTARY. 185 

at the time of the French Revolution of 1793, when the rich 
estates of the clergy, its monasteries, and vast domains, were sold, 
not by strangers, but by her own children, who hate her, and who 
will soon burn her with the fire of wars. Spain, even Catholic 
Spain, not long ago, seized upon eight hundred convents, which 
were sold for the benefit of the State. But that is only the begin- 
ning of sorrows, and the end is at hand. " For God hath put in 
their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom 
unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." Instead 
of studying the mysteries of humility, piety, and holiness, in the 
manger at Bethlehem, in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth, in the 
garden at Gethsemane, or in the Mount Golgotha, they chose 
rather a fashionable religion, with pompous and imposing cere- 
monies, rivalling those of the heathens; and God, in his anger, 
permitted that they should be enticed by the papal show 
and by the golden cup of the great whore, so that they should 
agree, for a little while, with the great whore, .to give her power 
over themselves, to support her atrocious crusades against the 
servants of the Lord, in order that they should be punished for 
their unfaithfulness by the same tyrannical power of the great 
whore over themselves. But, when the will of God shall be ful- 
filled, the same God, who has a sovereign power over the minds of 
men, will open their eyes, and show them the deformity of the old, 
ugly, toothless, and wrinkled great whore, whose throne is esta- 
blished on a sea of blood, and upon the corpses of more than fifty 
millions of victims of her black and devilish tyranny. Then, they 
shall acknowledge that some Satanic enchantment had fascinated 
their minds; that the. golden cup, which she presented them, as 
the emblem of happiness, did not contain an}^thing else than igno- 
rance, degradation, bondage, and misery in this life, and gnashing 
of teeth in the world to come. Then they shall make her desolate 
and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire; and so, 
her own children, the Roman Catholics, shall be, in the hands of 
God, the very instrumentalities of her destruction (see 19 : 17-21). 
If we examine all the characters of the man of sin, commonly 
called " Antichrist," we cannot find him either in pagan or in 
papal Rome apostatizing at the end of the world. Her apostacy 
was accomplished more than twelve centuries since. And, if any 
one replies, that it is impossible that a church that honors the 
name of Jesus Christ, — that sends missionaries throughout the 
world, be an apostate, an antichristian church, I answer, that 
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, — that it is not 
Christianity but popery, whose power they endeavor to strengthen 
and extend, — that Christianity, as taught by the apostles, does not 

16* 



186 COMMENTARY. 

consist in the name of Christ only, and in a formal worship to 
God ; but in the living principles of a new life, in holiness, in 
brotherly love, and in the glory of the God of heaven, our Creator 
and Redeemer. He it is who is the judge of his law, of our faith- 
fulness, and of our transgressions ; and he has given us so clear a 
description of the man of sin, of the apostacy of this church, that, 
should our temporal interests be concerned, in the escape of a 
man, so perfectly described, he could not pass through any city or 
village, without being apprehended at his first appearance. Here 
are the principal characters and features of this great Antichrist, 
according to the description of the prophets themselves. Let 
every one judge for himself. 



Description of Antichrist, or the Man of Sin. 

1. He is represented as a little horn (little king), rising, after 
ten other horns (kings), out of the terrible beast, by which the 
prophet Daniel has described the fourth monarchy, that is, the 
Roman Empire, which existed 1230 years, to 476, when it was 
utterly destroyed by ten barbarian people, namely, the Huns, 
Alains, Goths, Franks, Saxons, Suevi, Vandals, Bourguignons, 
Heruli, and the Lombards ; three of whom, namely, the Heruli, 
Visigoths, and the Lombards, or Odoacer, Theodoric, and Alboin, 
were subdued by the little horn (Dan. 7 : 7-27). 

2. In the little horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a 
mouth (religion) speaking great things (verse 8), showing his 
earthly-mindedness in opposition to the arrogant pretensions of 
being vicar of Jesus Christ, of having power, on earth and in 
heaven, to save or to damn. 

3. He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall 
wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times 
and laws (verse 25); that is, though, according to the decrees of 
the Most High, the Jewish Church, her priesthood, and sacrifices 
have been abolished at the death of Jesus Christ, he shall claim 
the prerogatives of this church, of her priesthood, and the sacrifice 
of the bread and wine, as he says, according to the order of Mel- 
chisedec. He shall also change the law of God, the mediatorial 
worship, the conditions of salvation, and shall add his commands 
to the commandments of God. 

4. He shall be diverse from the other kings ; and, though he be 
a little king, his look shall be more stout than his fellows, the kings 
being only as his vassals; verse 20, 24. 



COMMENTARY. 187 

5. His union with the kings is described by the same prophet 
(2 : 31-45), as the miry clay, mixed with the iron of the feet and 
toes of the great image, representing the ten kings, which shall 
arise out of the fourth monarchy; and, by St. John (17 : 13, 14), 
as having one mind to make war with the Lamb, and to destroy the 
saints of the Lord. 

6. When St. Paul was writing to the Thessalonians, he said 
unto them that the mystery of iniquity did already work, — that 
they knew what withheld that Wicked, that he should be revealed 
in his time, and that after the destruction of the Roman Empire, 
which was to be taken out of the way, he would be revealed, and 
come after the working of Satan with all power, and signs, and 
lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in 
them that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, 
that they might be saved (2 Th. 2 : 3-12). 

7. The mystery of iniquity was accomplished by a faction, in the 
Church, called by the prophet " Nicolaitanes" (dominators of the 
people, 2 : 6, 15); and it shall be destroyed by the Church of the 
" Laodiceans" (judgment of the people), whose meaning is con- 
trary to that of " Nicolaitanes" (3 : 14). It is by a spiritual death, 
by the martyrdom of a bishop, killed by the devil, in the city where 
Satan's seat is, that this mystery of iniquity was accomplished ; and 
the nature of his apostacy is specified by the name of " Antipas" 
(against all, 2 : 13). 

8. The man of sin holds the doctrine of Balaam, who taught 
Balac to cast a stumbling block, before the children of Israel, to eat 
things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication ; therefore, 
he is called, as the chief of a Church, " woman Jezebel," the wife 
of Ahab, calling herself a prophetess, that is, infallible (2 : 14, 20). 

9. The man of sin, as a star fallen from heaven (a bishop fallen 
from Christianity), received the key of or power over the bottomless 
pit of the destruction of the Roman Empire (9:1); and, having 
opened it, the deadly wound of the beast was healed : and all the 
world wondered after the beast, to which the mouth of the little 
horn, speaking great things and blasphemies, was given, with the 
power to continue 1260 years, and to make war with the saints. 
(13 : 1-7). 

10. Besides this first beast, representing the ten kings out of the 
first beast, there is a second, the little horn, rising after the first. 
This one comes up out of the earth (ambition, forgetfulness of 
Christianity), and he had two powers, a spiritual, and a temporal 
power, like Jesus Christ; but he spake as a dragon (Satan). He 
exerciseth all the power of the first kings, and cause th all the earth 
to submit to his empire, which was the image of the Roman Em- 



188 COMMENTARY. 

pire, which had been destroyed. He had power not only to speak, 
to teach his religion j but also to slaughter every one, who would 
not obey his power. The name of this beast or empire is : " The 
Latin Empire" (13 : 11-18). 

11. The city, in which he lives, is that great city, which reigneth 
over the kings of the earth, — which is built upon seven mountains, 
and he is the eighth king, or form of government of this empire, 
having inherited of the seven. He is clothed in purple and scarlet, 
as the Caesars, on the throne of whom he sitteth; and, upon the 
forehead of his religion, there is a mysterious inscription, the 
hidden meaning of which, is, " Babylon the Great, the mother of 
harlots and abominations of the earth" (17 : 1-18). 

12. This city is called Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon, in which the 
blood of all saints and prophets shall be found, and even the souls 
of men, of which she has made merchandise (18 : 13). Her agents 
are described as false doctors, speaking lies in hypocrisy, forbidding 
to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats (1 Tim. 4 : 1-4; 
2 Tim. 3 : 1-8). Therefore, an angel says from heaven : " Come 
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that 
ye receive not of her plagues" (18 : 4). 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

A LAMENTATION OVER THE FALL OF THE MYSTIC BABYLON. 

The prophet, having given us the description of the great whore, 
resumes, here, and in the following chapter, the matter of the 
seventh vial of the wrath of Grod. And, now, that we have been 
made acquainted with this great whore, which boasts to be " the 
first, and the mother of all churches \" whilst, in the judgment of 
Grod, the mysterious meaning of these titles which she assumes, 
should be : " Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abomi- 
nations of the earth," a powerful angel cries mightily, with a strong 
voice, in order that everyone might hear, saying: "Babylon the 
great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and 
the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hate- 
ful bird :" and he invites his people — those who fear and love God 
—to come out of her (out of the Roman Church), that they be not 
partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues. 

It may not be amiss, to say some words about the overthrow of 
the great Babylon of the Chaldeans, since we have to examine here 
the destruction of her daughter, Rome, the mystic Babylon. The 



COMMENTARY. 189 

decline, desolation, and utter ruin of that opulent city, then the 
mistress of the world, had been long foretold by the prophets. 
Isaiah had called her conqueror Cyrus by his name, more than one 
hundred years before his birth, and he had explained by what 
means, namely : " By the drying up of the river, and by the 
opening before him of the two-leaved gates of brass, which should 
not be shut" (Is. 44 : 27 j 45 : 1-7), — he should succeed in the 
taking of that city, crossed and surrounded by the waters of the 
Euphrates River (see Jer. 50 and 51). 

Herodotus, who lived two hundred and fifty years after the pro- 
phet Isaiah, says that the walls of Babylon were three hundred 
feet high, before they had been reduced to seventy-five by Darius 
Hystaspes, — that they were seventy-five feet thick — that her temple 
of Belus, was six hundred and thirty feet high, — that the city had 
one hundred gates of brass, — that the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, 
was eight miles in circumference, — and that the artificial lake, 
thirty-five feet deep, had a circumference of more than one hundred 
miles. Therefore, when Cyrus and his army surrounded the city 
with trenches, the Babylonians, were quite unconcerned about their 
works. But Cyrus was executing the secret decrees of the Al- 
mighty, and he was successful in his undertaking. There was but 
one way of success, namely : to dry up the deep, and the river, as 
it had been foretold by Isaiah, and by Jeremiah (51 : 36-43). 
Therefore, Cyrus ordered his soldiers to make wide and deep 
trenches around the city; and, the work being advanced enough, 
he opened his trenches to the river, when an opportunity was given 
him, by the security with which the inhabitants abandoned them- 
selves, in a feast day, to the excess of wine and debauchery. The 
waters, leaving the channel of the river, rushed into the trenches ; 
and so the river being dried up, the soldiers of Cyrus, following its 
former course, arrived to the centre of the city, which was buried 
in the slumber of debauchery, and they invaded the palace of the 
king, even before the alarm could be given. 

The inhabitants, having revolted some time after, and recovered 
their independence, Darius subdued them again, after a siege of 
twenty months. Three thousand of the principal inhabitants were 
put to death ) and the royal residence was removed to Shusan. 
Her sacred treasures were seized upon by Xerxes, and her temples 
were destroyed. Alexander wished to restore her her ancient 
splendor ; but his death did not permit him to carry out his pur- 
pose. A Parthian conqueror took it, 130 years before Christ, and 
he destroyed her most beautiful wards. The inhabitants retired 
then to Media, and to Seleucia, a neighboring city, built by the 
Macedonians. In the fourth century, she became a hunting park 



190 COMMENTARY. 

for the Persian kings ; and her walls having fallen down, the river 
had no longer its free course, and the current took another setting. 
So, the progress of ages has annihilated that city in such a manner 
that Babylon is become a wilderness, in which her true position can 
no more be ascertained. Such were the decline and ruin of Baby- 
lon,- the powerful city of the Chaldeans; now, what shall be the 
ruin of her daughter, the mystic Babylon ? 

V. 1-3. " And after these things I saw another angel come down from 
heaven, having great power ; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, 
is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul 
spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have 
drunk of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have com- 
mitted fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich 
through the abundance of her delicacies." - . . 

This powerful angel, coming down from heaven, is Jesus Christ 
himself, who proclaims the condemnation and ruin of the great 
whore. The words twice repeated : " Babylon the great is fallen, 
is fallen," indicate not only that her fall is certain and that she 
shall never rise up from her ruin; but also that she shall fall 
twice ; first, when she was ransacked by the barbarians; and secondly, 
when she shall be utterly destroyed, and burned with fire 
(17 : 16). She is cursed even in her ruin, for her iniquities; and 
she is condemned to be a species of hell, inhabited by devils, and 
the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hate- 
ful bird. They shall be there, in the midst of her ruins, to tell to 
the coming generations her diabolical ambition, her apostacy, 
impostures, lies, impurities, murders, and all the crimes which she 
has committed under the mask of religion. The judgment, by 
which she is condemned to become such an abominable place, 
accursed of God, is just; " for all nations have drunk of the wine 
of the wrath of her fornication." They have worshipped her idols; 
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, in 
receiving her devilish doctrines, and forcing their subjects to drink 
in the same impure cup, full of the abominations and filthiness of 
her fornication. Her traffic of holy things, and even of " souls of 
men" (verse 13); her unbounded pretensions, and her tyranny over 
the consciences of men, have afforded her abundance and delicacies; 
her splendor, magnificence, and excess in everything, have made 
rich the merchants of the earth, who traded with her, and for the 
very same reason supported her doctrines and tyranny. This is 
the cause for which she is condemned to become the habitation of 
devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every 
unclean and hateful bird. 



COMMENTARY. 191 

V. 4-S. "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of 
her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not 
of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath re- 
membered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and 
double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath 
filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived 
deliriously, so much torment and sorrow give her : for she saith in her heart, 
I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall 
her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she 
shall be utterly burned with fire : for strong is the Lord God who judgeth 
her.'' 

When Jesus Christ foretold the ruin of Jerusalem, he admo- 
nished the Jews, who listened to him, to flee into the mountains 
as soon as they should hear of wars. Therefore, his disciples 
abandoned Jerusalem, and fled to the mountains, when they heard 
of the approach of the Roman legions ; and so they escaped from 
the desolation, which caused the destruction of the city, and that 
of eleven hundred thousand inhabitants, who did not believe in the 
word of the Lord. The just Lot and his family were also warned 
to get out of Sodom, lest they should be consumed in the iniquity 
of the city; in the same manner, a voice from heaven, invites those 
who love God and fear his name, " to come out of Babylon," to 
abandon this idolatrous Church, an enemy of God and of his saints, 
whose blood she shed by torrents, lest they be partakers of her sins, 
and receive of her plagues. For those who will follow the wicked, 
must expect to be overwhelmed in their destruction, as accomplices 
of their crimes. The cup of her iniquities is full; "for her sins 
have reached unto heaven;" and God will come down to be re- 
venged at her hand. 

Though revenge be forbidden, his people are ordered not to for- 
bear from rewarding her as she rewarded them, and to double unto 
her double according to her works. God is the just judge of the 
earth ; and, when one obeys his orders, there is no revenge. She 
has long trampled under foot his people, with the most cruel 
tyranny ; she got her riches by her devilish practices, and she made 
use of them to live deliciously; she glorified herself, and said in 
her heart : " I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sor- 
row; therefore, shall her plagues come in one day, death, and 
mourning, and famine ; and she shall be utterly burnt with fire ; for 
strong is the Lord who judgeth her." She shall, then, be visited, 
at once, with three scourges, pestilence, famine and wars, to punish 
her tyranny, luxury, and especially her pride (Dan. 4 : 30 ; Jer. 
50 : 29 ; Ez. 16 : 49). Therefore, come out of Babylon, ye who 
fear the Lord and his judgments, lest ye be partakers of her 
tyranny over the consciences of men, of her haughtiness, idleness, 



192 COM M ENTARY. 

and delicacies, which are the heinous fruits of the ignorance and 
superstition which she instils into the minds of her priestridden 
subj ects : if you do not obey the command of the Lord, to come out 
of her, ye shall receive of her plagues. 

V. 9, 10. "And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication 
and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when 
they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her 
torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in 
one hour is thy judgment come." 

When the day of calamity is come, Babylon is alone and friend- 
less. True, the kings of the earth, who have committed fornica- 
tion, and lived deliciously with her, bewail her, and lament for her, 
at seeing the smoke of her burning ; but they stand afar off for the 
fear of her torment. In their distress and frenzy, they do not 
understand that it is a just reward of her crimes, and they say : 
" Alas, alas I" or rather : " Woe, woe I" for that is the signification 
of the Greek " ouai ;" and her destruction is the fulfilment of the 
third u woe," foretold in the eighth chapter. Woe, woe after 
woes, they say in their lamentations ; How, great and mighty 
Babylon, is thy judgment come in one hour ! (Ez. 28 : 16-23.) 
They do not pity her in her calamity ; but they tremble for them- 
selves, as do the accomplices of the same crimes, when they see the 
companions of their misdeeds fall under the sentence of their 
judges. 

V. 11-19. " And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over 
her ; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more. The merchandise of 
gold and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and pur- 
ple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of 
ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, 
and marble, and cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, 
and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and 
horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy 
soul lusted after are departed from thee ; and all things which were dainty 
and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at 
all." 

" The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand 
afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, 
alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, 
and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls ! For in one hour so 
great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company 
in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried 
when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this 
great city! And they cast dust on trreir heads, and cried, weeping and 
wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that 
had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness ! for in one hour is she made 
desolate." 



COMMENTARY. 193 

The merchants of the earth, who traded with the mystic 
Babylon, shall weep also and mourn over her destruction, because 
no man buyeth their merchandise any more. Among the goods, 
spoken of in this kind of inventory, some refer to the magnificence 
of the bishops', cardinals', and pope's vestments, as precious stones, 
pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet. Some are for the shrines 
of relics, and for the images of the saints, as thyine wood, ivory, 
precious wood, brass, iron, and marble. Some others, for her mate- 
rial worship, borrowed from the heathens, as cinnamon, odors, 
ointments, frankincense, wine, oil, and fine flour — and the others 
are, either to indulge in idleness, pride, and delicacies, as beasts, 
sheep, horses, and chariots, or to gratify cupidity and tyranny, as 
slaves " and souls of men :" which points to the infamous traffic of 
indulgences, dispensations, absolutions, masses, and to all the means 
invented to satisfy the ambition of her supporters, as the annats, 
benefices, reserves, &c, &c. But it is done ! All these things which 
were dainty and goodly, which their soul lusted after, are departed 
from them, and they shall find them no more. 

The merchants of these things stand also afar off for fear of her 
torment, and weeping and wailing, they say, " Alas, alas \" how 
that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and 
scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, — 
how so great riches are come to nought in one hour ! (Is. 56 : 9-12 ; 
Matt. 21 : 12, 13.) The shipmaster also and the sailors shall 
stand afar off; and, seeing the smoke of her burning, shall say, 
" What city is like unto, this great city ?" They shall cast dust 
on their heads, and cry " Alas, alas ! that great city, wherein were 
made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costli- 
ness/' — how is she made desolate in one hour ! (Is. 34 : 9-15.) 

The friends of the mystic Babylon are, as we have just seen, 
the kings of the earth, w T ho enforced her tyranny upon the con- 
sciences of their people, and the merchants, who were made rich 
by her luxury, opulence, and by her material worship. They 
lament over her ruin ; but they stand afar off in the time of her 
distress, and they weep and wail only, because they were partakers 
of her infamous delicacies, and because no man shall buy any more 
their merchandise. There is no cry of distress for their sins. 
They know not God ) they repent neither of their tyranny, nor of 
their murders, nor of their sinful trade : their lamentation is that 
of the wicked in the day of calamity ; but there is no godly sorrow 
to calm and refresh the soul ; for it is too late to repent : the 
Bridegroom is come, and the door is shut. 

V. 20. " Rejoice over her, tkou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; 
for God hath avenged you on her.'' 

17 



194 COMMENTARY. 

While the companions of the mystic Babylon lament over her 
ruin, the heaven, that is, the inhabitants of the empire freed from 
the papal yoke, the Christians, and the holy apostles and prophets 
are invited to rejoice over her calamity; because this destruction 
is a judgment of God, over that idolatrous and persecuting city, to 
avenge the blood of his martyrs, and to prepare the way to the 
preaching of the gospel. The apostles themselves, whom she 
honored with a special worship, are invited to rejoice over her 
destruction, to avenge themselves for having been disgraced by 
her worship, and by the abuse she made of their names and cha- 
racters to maintain her pretensions. It was upon the name of 
Peter that she built up the foundation of her sway and tyranny ; 
— it was by selling the supposed relics of the saints and apostles 
that she got a part of her riches; — it was by the abuse she made 
of their words, and by placing the cities and villages, the woods 
and the rivers, and the cattle, under the patronage of the saints 
and apostles, and under that of fanatic and bloody men, as her 
St. Dominic, the murderer, that she claimed the power to canonize 
the supporters of her tyranny and superstition, and led thus astray 
to idols the servants of God, and dishonored consequently the 
saints, the apostles, and prophets, whom she debased to the rank 
of her bloody supporters : therefore, all must rejoice over her ruin. 

V. 21-24. "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, 
and cast it iuto the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city 
Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the 
voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be 
heard no more at all in thee ; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, 
shall be found any more in thee ; and the sound of a millstone shall be 
heard no more at all in thee ; and the light of a candle shall shine no more 
at all in thee ; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be 
heard no more at all in thee : for thy merchants were the great men of the 
earth 5 for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was 
found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon 
the earth." 

To give us a striking image of the violence of the destruction 
of the great Babylon, a mighty angel took up a stone like a great 
millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying : " Thus with violence 
shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found 
no more at all" (Jer. 51 : 61-64). Henceforth she shall only be 
inhabited by devils, by foul spirits, and by unclean and hateful 
birds. Then shall there be neither any more joy, nor feast-days, 
nor rejoicings ; the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall 
be heard no more; the light of a candle shall shine there no more: 
an eternal silence and darkness shall reign there forever. For 



COMMENTARY. 195 

Babylon has deceived all the nations of the earth by her sorceries, 
by the magic power of her words, and by the poisoning of her 
idolatry. "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and 
saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth/ ' Satan, that old 
serpent, which deceiveth the whole world, and is the accuser and 
murderer of the servants of God, had his seat there, and he gave 
to the beast his power, and his seat, and great authority. In this 
manner, papal Rome inherited not only the worldly grandeur of 
the monarchies, which had been before ; but also the crimes and 
murders, which had been committed from the creation of the 
world 5 for she received all as a gift by the will of Satan. There- 
fore, the papal throne stands upon the corpses of the millions of 
victims of Satanic rage, and upon an immense sea of blood, whose 
voice crieth unto God for revenge. The condemnation of the 
great whore, the mother of harlots, has long ago been decreed in 
the eternal counsel of God : " she shall no longer be inhabited, 
save by devils and unclean birds. " "Her time is near to come, 
and her days shall not be prolonged" (Is. 13 : 17-22). 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE GREAT BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON AT THE COMING OF THE 
LORD, OR, THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB. 

We have in this chapter, the great event called : " The second 
coming of our Lord," — " The vintage of the wrath of God," — "The 
battle of that great day of God Almighty, at Armageddon," — 
" And the end of the world ;" because, at that great day, the papal 
powers, priests, bishops, cardinals, shall flee away, and the kings of 
the earth shall be found no more, according to the vision of the 
prophet, saying : " And every island fled away, and the mountains 
were not found/' It synchronizes, then, with 3 : 20-21 ; 14 : 18— 
20 ; 16 : 15-21 ; and it is for that event, and not for the final 
judgment, which takes place after the Millennium, that we are 
warned by our Lord, in all the parables concerning his coming, to 
watch, and be ready; "for ye know neither the day nor the hour, 
wherein the Son of man cometh." 

A close investigation of the prophecies, concerning the coming 
of our Lord, will show us that this event is spoken of, not to warn 
the generations living during the Millennium j but those who live 



196 COMMENTARY. 

before, and say : "Where is the promise of his coming ? All things 
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." In the 
same manner, we shall find that the judgment, which shall take 
place at his coming, represents the judgment of the great whore 
(11 : 18 ; 19 : 2), and the destruction of the kingdoms of this world, 
when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled : and these events 
are called, "the end of the world f for, according to the explana- 
tion of the parable of the seed, "the harvest is the end of the 
world." The harvest consists in gathering " out of his kingdom 
all things that offend, and them that clo iniquity," — and afterwards 
" shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father." Hence, it is evident that the end of the world represents 
the destruction of the kingdoms of the earth, to set up, on their 
ruins, the kingdom of the Lord. 

Our Lord, having foretold the destruction of the temple of Jeru- 
salem, his disciples said unto him : " Tell us, when shall these things 
be ? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of 
the world ?" Jesus, in his answer to these three questions, gives 
the destruction of Jerusalem, as the type of the destruction of the 
kingdoms of this world ; and having compared his coming to a 
lightning, which cometh out of the east (indicating that these 
events shall originate from the east), he represents them under 
this emblematic language : " For wheresoever the carcase is (sinners 
to be destroyed), there will the eagles (Roman legions, or the fowls 
that fly in the midst of heaven, 19 : 17) be gathered together. 
Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun (kings 
or emperors), be darkened, and the moon (popery) shall not give 
her light, and the stars (captains, priests, bishops, and popish saints 
or demigods), shall fall from heaven (from the offices which they 
hold in the kingdoms of the earth), and the powers of the heavens 
(the kingdoms) shall be shaken : And then shall appear the sign 
of the Son of man in heaven (Christianity shall be established in these 
kingdoms) : and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they 
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven (in the 
revolutions of those kingdoms, Ez. 30 : 3), with power and great 
glory. And he shall send his angels (gospel ministers), with a great 
sound of a trumpet (the emblem of the preaching of the gospel), and 
they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of 
heaven to the other. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the 
coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before 
the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in mar- 
riage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not 
until the flood came, and took them all away ; so shall also the coming 
of the Son of man be" (Matt. 24 : 27-39 ; Luke 21 : 25-36). 



COMMENTARY. 197 

It is evident from this passage, that the coming of the Lord, 
spoken of here, has no reference at all to the death of individuals, 
or to the final judgment; but to the destruction of the kingdoms, 
which are under the papal sway, and to the judgment of the great 
whore, and of her supporters, called "the dead/' which are to be 
destroyed (11 : 18), as it may be still proved by this passage of St. 
Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians (2 : 1-8). 

The Thessalonians were troubled about the coming of our Lord. 
The Apostle Paul beseeches them not to be troubled, as if the day 
of Christ were at hand. " For/' he says, " that day shall not come, . 
except there come a falling away first (the papal apostacy), and 
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. h And, when the 
Roman Empire, which withholdeth him, that he should be revealed 
in his time (Dan. 7 : 24, that is, after the other kings, who were 
to destroy this empire), shall be taken away, "then shall that 
wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit 
of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming/' 
The destruction of Popery is clearly connected here with the coming 
of our Lord, who, says the same apostle, "shall be revealed from 
heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on 
them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ" (2 Th. 1 : 7-10). But, as the Lord did not come 
personally to destroy Jerusalem, so we cannot suppose that he will 
come personally, either to destroy his enemies, or to reign among his 
elect during the Millennium ft for it is by his spiritual power that his 

* Nevertheless it may be said : there is as much infidelity in spiritualizing 
too much the promises of God, as in opposing them. We believe that God 
spoke with Adam, — that he appeared to Moses in the bush, and spoke with 
him on the Mount Sinai, — that his presence was manifested, in a cloud, in 
the wilderness; what reason have we to deny his personal presence, among 
his people, during the Millennium ? Is it not the same reason which the 
infidels have to deny the teachings of the heavenly mysteries, which they 
have neither seen nor handled ? We live in a world accursed for sin ; our 
judgments are formed according to the ideas which are suggested to our 
minds by the state of things which is before our eyes; shall we deny his 
appearing the second time without sin unto salvation, because we have no 
idea of a new earth renovated by the power of God I It is not said, that he 
shall appear for the destruction of Jerusalem, but only after the destruction 
of the kingdoms of this world (Matt. 24: 30), to set up his kingdom. Is there 
any reference to the final judgment in the texts which foretell his coming in 
Acts 1:11; Matt. 26 : 64 ; Luke 21 : 25-36 ; Heb 9 : 28 ; 10 : 37 ; Rev. 1:7; 
and in many others? The destruction of ungodly men and of the papal 
kingdoms is also a judgment of the Lord (11: 18); therefore we believe 
in his personal appearing to the world, though we cannot suppose that he 
will reign personally, as the kings of the earth, and dwell continually in person 
among his people. 

17* 



198 COMMENTARY. 

enemies shall be destroyed ; and, it is said, that the greatness of 
the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people 
of the saints of the Most High ; and so the kingdoms of the earth 
shall be the Lord's. 

The coming of the Lord is generally supposed to take place at 
the final judgment; because the judgment of the dead, and the 
destruction or the end of the world, are spoken of as taking place 
at the same time. But the dead spoken of, are those who are dead 
in trespasses and in sins (Eph. 2 : 1), and the end of the world, is 
the end of the times of the Gentiles, and the destruction of the 
kingdoms of the earth, which shall be the Lord's. It is the same 
great event, and not the destruction of this universe, or of the 
globe which we inhabit, which is described by the Apostle Peter in 
his picture of the end of the world. For, if we examine carefully 
this passage, we shall see that he is alluding to the answer of our 
Lord to the questions of his disciples, concerning the destruction of 
the temple, concerning his coming, and the end of the world ; and, 
consequently, that he describes the same events ; namely, the de- 
struction of the kingdoms of the earth. 

St. Peter complains first, of those " Scoffers, walking after their 
own lusts, and saying: Where is the promise of his coming? For, 
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from 
the beginning of the creation." He compares, then, the destruc- 
tion, of which he is speaking, to that which took place in the days 
of Noah, as we have seen it, in the answer of our Lord (Matt. 24 : 
37), and he adds : " But the day of the Lord will come as a thief 
in the night, in the which the heavens (kingdoms) shall pass away 
with a great noise ; and the elements (not of this universe, but of 
these kingdoms), shall melt with fervent heat (the emblem of wars 
and military despotism, 16 : 8-9), the earth also (worldly religion), 
and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then, 
that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons 
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for 
and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the 
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat ? Nevertheless, we, according to his pro- 
mise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
righteousness" (2 Pet. 3 : 4-13). Now, everything, in this pas- 
sage, shows that he is alluding to the answer of Jesus, which we 
have just examined; and, as he compares the destruction of which 
he is speaking, to that which took sinners unawares in the days of 
Noah, we are permitted to infer, that, in his comparison, he speaks 
of the same world — of ungodly men, of worldly cities, and king- 
doms, whose elements — not of this globe — shall be destroyed with 



COMMENTARY. 199 

the "fervent heat of the fire of wars, and by famine and pestilence. 
Therefore, however strong may be the language made use of by St. 
Peter, there is no good reason to maintain the general opinion, that 
he is speaking of the destruction of the globe, which we inhabit, 
and of the heavens, where is the throne of God; for they were 
declared to be good by their Almighty Creator. 

V. 1-4. "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in 
heaven, saying, Alleluia ; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto 
the Lord our God : for true and righteous are his judgments : for he hath 
judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, 
and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they 
said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and 
twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on 
the throne, saying, Amen j Alleluia." 

The prophet, after having given, in the sixteenth chapter, the 
emblems of the seven plagues, by which the papal kingdoms are to 
be destroyed, described, in the seventeenth, the characters of the 
great whore, which had corrupted the earth, and made a lamenta- 
tion over her utter ruin, in the eighteenth chapter. Now, he gives 
us a picture of the songs of praise, thanksgivings, and worship, 
which were heard among the people of the saints, while these judg- 
ments of God were executed. These songs are nearly the same as 
those of the Waldenses, after the battles of Montenotte and Ma- 
rengo, at the pouring out of the third vial (16 : 4—7) ; but, here, 
they do not designate any special event : they include all the events, 
which shall consume and destroy the great whore unto the end : for 
"her smoke rose up forever and ever." Therefore, t\Q four and 
twenty eiders and the four beasts, which are the representatives 
of both the triumphant and militant Church, fall down to wor- 
ship God, that sits on the throne, saying, " Amen ; Alleluia ;" 
that is, be it so, and praised be the name of the Lord, who has 
judged the great whore. 

V. 5-9. " And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all 
ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as 
it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and 
as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia : for the Lord God omni- 
potent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him : for the 
marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And 
to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : 
for the white linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said unto me, 
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the 
Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. 1 ' 

The seven last plagues of the wrath of God, contained in the 
seventh trumpet, are divided into the harvest and into the vintage 



200 COMMENTARY. 






of the wrath of God (14 : 14-20). It seems that, in this song of 
the marriage of the Lamb and of his Church, there is an allusion 
made to the great event (the French Revolution of 1792), by which 
the harvest was begun ■ for it consists in gathering out of his king- 
dom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and in 
gathering the wheat into the barn of the Lord. Then, the kings, 
the noblemen, the priests, and the bishops, were gathered out of 
the kingdom, and missionary societies were established. " And a 
voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his 
servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great ;■" that is, the 
liberty of worship was granted to the Church of God, and all the 
servants of the Lord were invited to praise him, in his temple. 
Such a liberty could not be granted by a king of the earth, sitting 
on his throne (15 : 8), but it was granted by the National Assembly 
of France, when Louis XVI. was powerless ; and so the voice came 
out of the throne, soon after the Republic was proclaimed ; and, 
then, was heard " as it were the voice of a great multitude and as 
the voice of many waters (many people, 17 : 1-15), and as the voice 
of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia : for the Lord God omni- 
potent reigneth." The power of tyrants is now at an end; there is 
no longer any hindrance to the setting up of the kingdom of God. 
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him : for the mar- 
riage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 

There is no description of the events alluded to, because they 
have been described under the emblems of Jre seven vials, and 
because every one knows that the judgments of God upon the great 
whore, are the subject of this song of the people of God. And, as 
for the persecutions, either pagan or papal, there is but the last 
and most cruel, which is spoken of, namely, the Diocletian Perse- 
cution, for the heathens; and that of Louis XIV., for the papists; 
so, in this song of the servants of God, there is but the principal 
event, which is alluded to; because all these plagues, all the 
struggles and revolutions, were made to destroy tyranny and to 
proclaim liberty, or to set up the kingdom of God. 

" And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, 
clean and white." In all these struggles and revolutions made to 
break the chains of the tyrants, the Church of God, so long trodden 
under foot, as an orphan without a protector, and as a heretic and 
schismatic Church, was delivered from her bondage, and she en- 
joyed liberty of worship without any restraint. Whilst the popish 
agents, and the Pope himself, were obliged to disguise themselves 
for fear of destruction, " it was granted to the bride" (the Protes- 
tant Church) "to be arrayed," as the high priests of the Jews, "in 
fine linen, clean and white," to serve the Lord freely in his temple : 



COMMENTARY. 201 

and this liberty of worshipping him freely and without fear, is a 
proof that the Protestant Church is not only righteous before God, 
but also before the people, proclaiming, by this very deed, that she 
has always been faithful to her mission, and to the liberty and 
happiness of nations : " for the fine linen is the righteousness of 
saints/' 

" And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they whicli are 
called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto 
me, These are the true sayings of God." These words indicate 
clearly the reaction, which followed soon after these shakings of 
the kingdoms of the earth, in all the struggles of the people for 
liberty. For it is in the same language that God laughs at the 
vain attempt of Louis XIV. to destroy Protestantism (14 : 13). 
" Write/' he says to the prophet, " Blessed are the dead (dead in 
trespasses and in sins) which die in the Lord (turn to the Lord) 
from henceforth : yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from 
their labors f that is, u Blessed are the papists who shall turn 
Protestants, for henceforth they shall rest from their persecutions : 
your attempt is vain, and they shall eat of the fruit of their works." 
In the same manner, the prophet receives here the order to defy 
the tyrants who attempt again and again to keep in fetters the 
liberty of his people \ and the angel says unto him, " Write, 
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the 
Lamb ;' ; that is, do not mind their attempts to destroy liberty : 
they shall not succeed ; victory is yours, Republicans, and the last 
hour of the tyrants is ready to strike : u these are the true sayings 
of God." We shall see, verse 17-21, the description of those 
who shall be called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb, whose 
weddings are called " a Supper," because he will come as a thief 
in the night. (Compare with the Church in Laodicea, 8 : 14-22.) 

Scott supposes that it is spoken, in this passage, of the conver- 
sion of the Jews ; because the Hebrew word " Halleluiah" is re- 
peated several times in this song of the marriage of the Lamb and 
of the Church, his wife. But we cannot draw such conclusions 
from a word, which has passed into every language. " None of 
those men (the Jews) which were bidden shall taste of my supper;" 
for " blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of 
the gentiles be come in" (Luke 14 : 24 ; Bom. 11 : 25). There- 
fore, the Jews shall come only after the heathens and Mahometans ; 
for •• the first shall be the last." The wife, which has made herself 
ready, in serving God and men, and to which it was granted that 
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, being clean 
from any participation with the sins of the oppressors of the nations, 
is the Church of the one hundred and forty-four thousand ser- 



202 COMMENTARY. 

vants of God, sealed in their foreheads by the Holy Ghost, to keep 
the flambeau of the gospel, during the Middle Age, and to hand it 
to the future generations — the wife of the Lamb is that great mul- 
titude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, 
and people, and tongues, — who after the Reformation, listened to 
the call of the gospel, and washed their robes in the blood of the 
Lamb, and were made one of the towers of the wall of the city, as 
we shall see it, in the allegorical description of the true Church of 
God (21 : 10-27). 

V. 10. " And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See 
thou do it not : I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the 
testimony of Jesus : worship God : for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of 
prophecy." 

The prophet, at seeing the judgments of God upon the great 
whore, and upon the kings who had committed fornication with 
her, and the glory of the bride, arrayed in fine linen, clean and 
white, — the emblem, not only of the righteousness of the Lamb, 
her bridegroom, which is imputed to her ; but also, of her faith- 
fulness and of the good report which she enjoyed before the papal 
nations, — was so amazed that he fell at the feet of the angel, to 
worship him. But the angel rebuked him, saying, " See thou do 
it not," as Paul rebuked the inhabitants of Lystra, who wished to 
offer him and his companion a sacrifice. " See thou do it not : I 
am thy fellow-servant :' ; I am not of a different condition than 
thine own; this honor is due to God alone. Though I am of a 
different nature, I am, as thou and the prophets, thy brethren, 
nothing else than a messenger commissioned to bear witness to 
Jesus. Therefore, we are all brethren and fellow-servants with 
the prophets, who are sent to bear witness to him ; for he it is who 
is the object and the end of all prophecies. And those who con- 
fess and believe that he is the Son of God, the Saviour of men, 
are animated by the same Spirit, and are, consequently, fellow- 
servants, worshipping and serving the same God. For to have 
the testimony of Jesus is to have the spirit of prophecy. (See 
22 : 8, 9.) 

V. 11-16. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse: and he 
that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he 
doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his 
head were many crowns ; and he had a name written, that no man knew, 
but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood : and 
his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven 
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the 
nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the 



COMMENTARY. 203 

winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on 
his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of 
lords." 

The promoters of civil and religious tyranny, represented under 
the emblem of three unclean spirits like frogs (16 : 13-16), have 
at last succeeded in gathering the kings of the earth to the battle 
of that great day of God Almighty. The principal object of their 
infernal league is to give the finishing blow to the civil and reli- 
gious liberties. They have long cherished their black plot, and 
they think that its success is certain. They do not suspect that 
millions of voices have already sung songs of praise and thanks- 
giving to the Lord, for his judgments upon the enemies of his 
people; — that the bride of the Lamb has put on her beautiful 
garments, to take possession of the kingdoms of the earth, — and 
that the marriage supper of the Lamb is at hand; for, though 
many struggles and overturnings of kingdoms have been unable 
to destroy tyranny and enjoy liberty, the angel of the Lord ordered 
the prophet to write, that " Blessed are they which are called unto 
the marriage supper of the Lamb ;" for they shall overcome, and 
shall enjoy the blessings of the kingdom of God. 

We have, in this passage, the description of the titles, dignity, 
armor, and vesture of the great Captain of the armies, which shall 
fight under his invisible command, at the battle of Armageddon, 
called the vintage of the wrath of God. He is the same warrior, 
whom we saw, at the opening of the first seal (6 : 2), sitting on a 
white horse, and going forth conquering and to conquer. His 
invisible arm has inflicted many plagues upon the Homan Empire, 
either pagan or papal, for the idolatry and persecutions, which 
were supported by its rulers ; and, now, he appears, at the head of 
his armies, upon the same white horse (as an emblem of the holi- 
ness of his cause), to give the finishing blow to his enemies, and 
to give the kingdom to his people. As he had promised his 
people to come to deliver them from their enemies, and to give 
them the kingdom, he is called the " Faithful and True, and in 
righteousness he doth judge and make war." 

" His eyes were as a flame of fire," showing his indignation at 
the sight of the oppressors of his Church; " and on his head were 
many crowns," the emblems of the triumph of his Church over the 
kings of the earth, whose kingdoms are to be given to the people 
of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting 
kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him (Dan. 
7:27). " And he had a name written, that no man knew, but 
he himself." This name cannot be "the Word of God," which was 



204 COM M ENTARY. 

made flesh, and dwelt among us ; for we know that he is the only 
begotten of the Father, fall of grace and truth. Nor can it be 
any of his divine perfections, as the eternal Jehovah, which are 
known to his servants, — and he himself only knew this name written. 
Therefore, this name ought to be the name of "the angel standing 
in the sun" (verse 17), who shall be, in his hands, the instrumen- 
tality of the destruction of his enemies. For the description of 
the armies, which follow the Lord of hosts, upon white horses, 
clothed in fine linen, white and clean, does not represent the very 
armies which shall fight the battle of the Lord ; but it shows only 
what shall be the true character of these armies. It indicates, that 
the invisible Lord of hosts shall be on their side, — that the war 
shall be holy, and its success certain, — that those, who shall be 
engaged in that war, shall not be, as in former and unsuccessful 
attempts, treated as rebels and promoters of anarchy; but they 
shall be crowned with glory, for having fought the battles of the 
Lord, " they shall be clothed in fine linen, white and clean;" their 
cause shall be crowned with glory. 

" And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood \ and his 
name is called The Word of God." This is the name, — not the 
name written, that no man knew but he himself, — but the name 
of the great Captain of the armies of God. His vesture has been 
dipped in the blood of the cross; but this blood by which his 
vesture is stained, is that of his enemies, whom he has trodden 
alone in the wine-press of his anger (Is. 63 : 1-6; 34 : 1-17); or, 
rather, it is the emblem of the blood, which shall be shed by the 
armies, which shall be instrumental to the destruction of the 
papal league, and which shall fight under his invisible command 
and protection. " And the armies which were in heaven followed 
him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." 
These armies followed the Lord; therefore, the war is holy, and 
its success is certain, as it is indicated by " the fine linen, white 
and clean ;" they shall not be, for this time, condemned to death 
or to exile, as rebels and enemies of their country; the kings of 
the earth shall be taken and the false prophet with them, and 
they shall be cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone. 
Nevertheless, if the fine linen, white and clean, is not for them 
who shall be called, the mantle of righteousness, and the wedding 
garment, they shall be treated as the enemies of the Lord, and 
taken away, and cast with them, into outer darkness (Matt. 
22 : 11-14), though they shall have been engaged in a just and 
holy cause, which shall be approved before God and men, as the 
battles which the Americans fought for their independence. 

" And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he 



COMMENTARY. 205 

should smite the nations (papists); and he shall rule them with a 
rod of iron." The Lord has only to speak, and his enemies shall 
be no more. His word is a two-edged sword : if it does not give 
life, it causes death. His word has long been despised, pro- 
scribed, and burnt, and reckoned amongst dangerous books; his 
servants, who found their delight, and life, and immortality in 
this word, have been cast into dark dungeons, and ruined, and 
burnt at the stake for the reading of it. Now is the day of ven- 
geance ; and this gracious word is become a sharp sword and a rod 
of iron, with which the nations are smitten and destroyed. " For 
if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much 
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh 
from heaven, whose voice shakes not the earth only, but also 
heaven" (Heb. 12 : 25). Therefore, he treadeth them " in the 
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" (compare 
with 14 : 18-20 and 16 : 19). For, kings of the earth, be 
instructed, and know what is the power of him against whom you 
have united together to make war ! He has, like the ancient con- 
querors, the titles of his power written on his thigh; and they are, 
" King of kings, and Lord of lords." Though he be alone, he 
will tread you in his anger, and trample you in his fury; your 
blood shall be sprinkled upon his garments ; for the day of ven- 
geance is in his heart, and the year of his redeemed is come (Is. 
63 : 2-7). 

V. 17-21. " And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a 
loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and 
gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat 
the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, 
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, 
both free and bond, both small and great. 

" And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, 
gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against 
his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that 
wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had re- 
ceived the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These 
both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the 
• emnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which 
sword proceeded out of his mouth : and all the fowls were filled with their 
flesh." 

The prophets of the Lord do not write history, as men who take 
notice only of the natural causes, and of the material events, by which 
powerful armies have been defeated, and kingdoms destroyed. 
They show us, at first, as in the preceding picture, the invisible 
Lord of hosts, at the head of unseen armies, smiting the nations, 
and ruling them with a rod of iron, for having despised his holy 

18 



206 COMMENTARY. 

religion, — for the sword goeth out of his mouth ; they represent, 
under emblems, the righteousness of the war, the certainty of 
victory, the carnage of the enemies, and the glory and honor of 
those who shall be engaged in that holy war, which shall put an end 
to the old controversy, between the word of God and its enemies. 
Then only, they give us the emblematic description of the armies, 
which shall fight the battle of the Lord, and shall be the instru- 
mentality made use of for the destruction of his enemies. 

u And I saw an angel standing in the sun." The sun is the 
emblem of the emperor (6 : 12 ; 8 : 12 ; 16 : 8) ; and, by metonymy, 
or transposition of names, of the empire itself, as Rome is taken 
for the head of the Roman Church, and for the religion itself. 
Likewise an angel is the emblem of a man, or of an army, commis- 
sioned to accomplish the will of God (8 : 7-12 ; 9 : 14). Now, 
since the reign of Charlemagne, who was crowned emperor by the 
Pope Leon III. in 800, France has been the seat of the civil Roman 
Empire; therefore, this angel standing in the sun, is either a 
French army, or a Frenchman, whatever may be his titles, who 
shall stand against the emperor and all the kings leagued together 
against civil and religious liberty. 

" And he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly 
in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto 
the supper of the great God." The " fowls," which are birds of 
prey, are unclean, and cannot represent the Christians ; but they 
represent, as it is said in the parable of the marriage of the king's 
Son (Matt. 22:9, 10; Luke 14:21), those, whom the servants 
found in the highways, both bad and good, the poor and the 
maimed, the halt and the blind ; so that the house was filled with 
guests. Remark, that this destruction of the enemies of the Lord 
is called " the marriage supper of. the Lamb j" and that it is pro- 
bable that Christians will pray to be excused, as the Jews, alluded 
to in the parable, and that the battle shall be fought by men such 
as those who are there described. They are " fowls," unconverted 
men (Acts 10 : 12) ; they "fly in the midst of heaven," that is, they 
are free, independent of the kings; and they have not the mark of 
the papal bondage, either in their foreheads or in their right hand : 
though they are born Catholics (17 : 16, 17), they neither profess 
nor favor the papal religion ; they, on the contrary, hate the great 
whore. Such are, then, the men to whom the angel, standing in 
the sun, that is, in the Empire, against the infernal league, cries 
with a loud voice, by a proclamation against the tyrants : " Come 
and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God ; 
that ye may eat the flesh (spoils, riches, estates) of kings, the flesh 



COMMENTARY. 207 

of captains and mighty men," and of all the supporters of tyranny, 
" both free and bond, both small and great." 

It may be said also that the corpses of the soldiers of Antichrist's 
armies shall be a feast for the fowls of heaven ; for righteousness 
and judgment are the habitation of the throne of the Lord. It is 
known that the dead bodies of the martyrs were not suffered to be 
put in graves (11 : 9) ; that, by an order of the pope, the dead 
body of Wicliff was, in 1416, dug out of its grave to be burnt, even 
forty-one years after his death. 

" And I saw the beast (the pope and his supporters), and the 
kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together (by the 
three unclean spirits 16 : 13-21 showing that the same event is 
spoken of), to make war against him that sat on the white horse, 
and against his army." There is no description here either of the 
battle, or of the battle-field ; because we know already that the 
battle shall be fought at Armageddon (mountain of destruction) ; 
and that the carnage shall be such that the blood shall come out of 
the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thou- 
sand and six hundred furlongs (14 : 20). The prophet tells us only 
what shall be the consequences of this battle : " And the beast was 
taken (civil powers), and with him the false prophet, that wrought 
miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had re- 
ceived the mark of the beast (the pagan Roman Empire 18 : 13- 
18 ; 2 Th. 2 : 9-12), and them that worshipped his image (the 
empire become the Papal Empire). These both were cast alive 
into a lake of fire burning with brimstone," which designates the 
fire of artillery by which they shall be destroyed, and their destruc- 
tion shall be everlasting, as their torments in hell (20 : 15). 

" And the remnant were slain with the sword (death, mourning, 
famine, pestilence, and wars) (18 : 8) of him that sat upon the horse, 
which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were 
filled with their flesh" (Ez. 39 : 17-22). Though the destruction 
of the enemies of the Lord was great, there was a remnant who 
escaped, perhaps because they had not joined the armies of the 
Antichristian league. But because they had the mark of the beast, 
they were slain with the sword, which proceeded, out of the mouth 
of the Lord — with famine, mourning, and pestilence (18 : 8 ; Ez. 7 : 
15), which are swords at the command of the Lord. The sword of 
the Lord is his word (Heb. 4 : 12) ; and were it not for the last 
words : " And all the fowls were filled with their flesh," we could 
infer that the remnant of the papists, w r ho were not destroyed, gave 
glory to God, and turned to the Lord. But it is too late to repent ; 
therefore all those who have trodden under foot the word of his 
grace, and chose rather to worship idols and support the enemies 



208 COMMENTARY. 

of his Church, shall be as wild grapes of the vine of the earth, 
cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And so shall 
end the long controversy of God with men; the long quarrel about 
the word of God, and his covenant, shall be decided, at the coming 
of the Lord; for " every soul which will not hear that prophet, 
shall be destroyed from among the people." 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE MILLENNIUM AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 

V. 1-3. " And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of 
the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the 
dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a 
thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and 
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thou- 
sand years should be fulfilled ; and after that he must be loosed a little 
season." 

Now is the time of the Gentiles fulfilled ; and the new Jeru- 
salem, the holy city, so long trodden under foot, will loose the bands 
from her neck, and put on the beautiful garments of rejoicings; 
for the Lord her G-od reigneth ; and he will introduce her with 
triumph into the kingdom, prepared for her from the foundation of 
the world. 

" And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key 
of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand." This angel 
is the symbol of Jesus Christ, taking possession of the kingdoms of 
the earth, in the persons of his saints, to whom " the kingdom and 
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole 
heaven shall be given" (Dan. 7 : 27). After the destruction of 
the Roman Empire, called also " the bottomless pit" (9 : 1-3), 
the key was given to a star, fallen from heaven unto the earth (to 
an apostate bishop, Boniface III.)? an d> when he had opened it, 
there arose out of the pit, a smoke like that of a great furnace, that 
is, popedom and the Dark Ages. But now, the key of the destruc- 
tion of the kingdoms of this world, is in the hands of an angel, 
coming down from heaven — of Jesus himself, — who will give it to 
his servants. Instead of making use of it to obtain worldly gran- 
deur and dominion, they will shut Satan in the bottomless pit 
with the kings and the false prophet ; and they shall bind him, 



COMMENTARY. 21)9 

with good institutions and laws, as with a great chain; so that, the 
tyrannical powers of the earth being destroyed, Satan shall be 
unable to hurt any more in the holy mountain of the Lord. Con- 
sequently, instead of oppression, murders, wars, and intemperance, 
and idolatrous worship, there will be, throughout the earth, peace 
and liberty, brotherly love, holiness, and true worship in spirit and 
in truth : " And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let 
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God 
of Jacob ) and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in 
his paths." 

" And he laid hold on the dragon, and bound him a thousand 
years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and 
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, 
till the thousand years be fulfilled." The good laws and institu- 
tions, established by Christian rulers, shall be as a seal set upon 
Satan, so that, being cast into the bottomless pit of destruction with 
the civil powers, he shall be unable to deceive any more the nations, 
and to raise up any new tyrannical power, to make war with the 
Lamb and his servants. 

But, after the thousand years, he shall be loosed a little season, 
when Gog and Magog shall be powerful enough to be instrumental 
to his wrath to favor again tyranny and idolatry. Hence, we may 
infer, that the kingdom of the Lord shall be circumscribed (perhaps 
according to the vision of Ezekiel 47 : 13-23); and that, before 
the final judgment, the kings and nations of the East, shall only 
bring their honor and glory into the kingdom of our Lord (16 : 12). 
We may suppose, then, that all the kingdoms of the earth shall 
only be the Lord's, after the destruction of Gog and Magog; and 
this supposition is strengthened by the prophecy itself, for it refers 
only to the Koman Empire, either pagan or papist, a circumscribed 
kingdom, as was the Jewish Church. 

V. 4-6. " And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was 
given unto them : and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded, for the 
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped 
the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their fore- 
heads, or in their hands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand 
years. But the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years 
were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he, that 
hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second deadi hath no power, 
but they shall be priests of God, and of Christ, and shall reign with him a 
thousand years." 

" And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was 
given unto them." These thrones are the thrones of the princes 
of the earth, leagued with the dragon, and with the false prophet, 

18* 



210 COMMENTARY. 

which are now the Lord's. Though the prophet does not call, by 
their names, the rulers, that sat upon these thrones, we may learn, 
from the resurrection of the martyrs of the Lord, that they are of 
the same family, — of the people of the saints of the Most High, 
unto whom the kingdom has been given. 

" And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded, for the wit- 
ness of Jesus, and for the word of God." Here is the description 
of those who shall live and reign with Christ, during the Millen- 
nium. There are first, the souls of them that were beheaded for 
the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God. The Greek 
" Pepelekismenon" means " killed with the axe," and points out 
the pagan persecutions, at the time of the primitive Church, under 
the Roman emperors. The prophet saw only their " souls," show- 
ing that a resurrection of the body is not spoken of, as it shall be 
shown hereafter. The English translation : " And which had not 
worshipped the beast," does not render exactly the meaning of the 
Greek " Oitines," whose signification "whoever" designates the 
living, as well as the dead ; whilst the pronoun " which" refers 
only to the souls of them that were beheaded, and had not wor- 
shipped the beast, nor his image. Therefore, the phrase must run 
thus : " And whosoever had not worshipped the beast (the Roman 
pagan empire), neither his image (popery), neither had received 
his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands 5" that is, who 
had neither professed, nor supported, nor preached the papal doc- 
trines. 

"And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." 
This life and reign of the servants of the Lord is called : " the first 
resurrection;" therefore, it is not a resurrection like that of the two 
witnesses (11 : 11-23); for it would be called : "the second resur- 
rection :" neither is it like that of Elias, which was accomplished 
by the birth of John the Baptist (Matt. 17 : 10-13) ; nor like that 
of the Jews, whose conversion is called, " a life from the dead ;V 
but it is a resurrection both political and religious, at the same time. 
For, from the foundation of Christianity, the two witnesses of the 
Lord had been given to be trodden under foot by the Gentiles ; so 
that the martyrs of the pagan persecutions were looked upon, as the 
enemies of men and of the gods; likewise those of the papal per- 
secutions were destroyed as heretics, and enemies of Jesus Christ ; 
even, at present, the living Protestants are still under the curses 
and anathemas of the great Heresiarch, sitting as god in the tem- 
ple of God; for none of his infernal decrees against them has 
been repealed; and so the Protestants are yet under the papal 
anathemas. But, after the destruction of the infernal league, when 
the words of God shall be fulfilled, the kingdom being given to the 



COMMENTARY. 211 

people of the saints of the Most High, their memory shall be re- 
instated ; they shall be declared, "The faithful, the ransomed 
people of the Lord," and they shall live, and reign morally with 
him a thousand years. Until now, God has done nothing, in the 
sight of men, to reinstate his servants, to adopt them as children — 
not even when Christianity was, for a short time, proclaimed the 
religion of the Roman Empire, — they have always been looked upon 
as fanatics, superstitious, heretics, and enemies of God and men ; 
but now, the kingdom, under the whole earth, is in their hands ; 
and the blessedness, enjoyed under their administration, is the first 
step to, and the first image of, the everlasting kingdom of God, after 
the resurrection of the dead, at the final judgment : it is the first 
deliverance from the bondage of Satan, since the fall of man. 

" But the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand 
years were finished." Besides the Protestants, who have always 
been as dead or damned under the papal anathemas, and the 
martyrs of pagan persecutions, there are many servants of God, who 
had only the number of the beast, or the name of Papists, as Pascal 
and Fenelon, and some others, who have been put to death, as 
heretics, by the Inquisition in Spain, Italy, and in other countries; 
but, as they did not belong professedly, either to the accursed sect 
of Protestants, or to the martyrs under pagan Rome, their spiritual 
condition shall not be known before the final judgment; and so, 
these dead, under the pagan or papal curses, shall not live again ; 
that is, shall not be justified and accounted faithful, until the last 
judgment, when the thousand years shall be finished, and when 
every man shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ. There- 
fore, " this is the first resurrection," the first rehabilitation of the 
people of God, and the first enjoyment of the blessings of the king- 
dom of Christ. At the second resurrection, they shall put on im- 
mortality, and shall be like angels before God; but, during the 
Millennium, they shall be priests of God, and of Christ, a holy 
people, serving the Lord, and reigning with him a thousand years 
(1:6). 

" Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection : 
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests 
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." 
These words indicate clearly that a political and religious resurrec- 
tion is spoken of; for those that shall have part in it, are declared 
to be blessed and holy, and free from the bondage of sin and Satan, 
which are the cause of the second death. That is the reason, for 
which it is said, " Blessed are they which are called unto the mar- 
riage supper of the Lamb" (19 : 9) ; for, not only they shall escape 
from the general destruction of the supporters of popery, but also 



212 COMMENTARY. 

they shall enjoy all the means of grace, which shall be abundantly 
supplied in the kingdom of Christ. Nevertheless, we ought not to 
entertain ridiculous and extravagant opinions about the nature of 
this kingdom of our Lord : all we can expect with certainty is that 
" the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom 
under the whole heaven (the Roman Empire), shall be given to 
the people of the saints of the Most High — that all dominions shall 
serve and obey him — that the earth shall be full of the knowledge 
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea; and that, in that day, the 
Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the 
remnant of his people ; which shall be left, from the four corners 
of the earth" (Dan. 2 : 44 ; 7 : 26, 27 j Is. 11 : 9-13). And, for 
the other blessings, we find them described in the following 
passages of the prophets Isaiah and Micah : — 

" For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and the 
former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye 
glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I 
create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will re- 
joice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people : and the voice of weep- 
ing shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There 
shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that 
hath not filled his days : for the child shall die an hundred years 
old ; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. 
And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall 
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, 
and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat : for as 
the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall 
long enjoy the works of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, 
nor bring forth for trouble ; for they are the seed of the blessed of 
the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to 
pass, that before they call, I will answer ; and while they are yet 
speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, 
and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock : and dust shall be the 
serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy 
mountain, saith the Lord" (Is. 65 : 17-25). 

" But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain 
of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the 
mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills ; and people shall 
flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and 
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the 
God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk 
in his paths : for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of 
the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, 
and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords 



COMMENTARY. 213 

into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall 
not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any 
more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his 
fig tree ; and none shall make them afraid : for the mouth of the 
Lord of hosts hath spoken it" (Mich. 4 : 1-4). Such are the 
temporal and spiritual blessings, which we may expect to enjoy, at 
the first resurrection of the people of God, until we put on life and 
immortality, and be as the Lord is in the everlasting kingdom of God, 
therefore by this first resurrection, the first degree of deliverance 
accomplished by the Messiah, Christians are made free from the 
yoke of their enemies, and they enjoy the blessings of a new Eden. 

V. 7-10. " And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed 
out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the 
four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle : 
the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the 
breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the 
beloved city : and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured 
them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and 
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are. and shall be tormented 
day and night forever and ever." 

" And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be 
loosed out of his prison." After the Millennium the great sabbath 
of the saints, the numerous people, who shall oppose the influence 
of the gospel, will afford Satan a support powerful enough, to at- 
tempt again to destroy the saints of the Lord. Gog and Magog, 
marching at the head of great armies, deceived by Satan, shall 
compass the camp of the saints and the beloved city, which is the 
Church of the living God. They shall say in their heart : " I will 
go up to the land of unwalled villages ) I will go to them that are 
at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and 
having neither bars nor gates, to take spoil, and to take a prey ; to 
turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, 
and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which 
have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. 
Sheba, and Bedon, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the 
young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a 
spoil ? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey ? To carry 
away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great 
spoil" (Ez. 38 : 11-13) ? Gog does not know that the people of 
God dwelleth safely; that, as the mountains are round- about 
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people. Therefore, a 
fire shall come down from God out of heaven, and shall devour 
them. Seven months, Ezekiel says, shall the house of Israel be 
burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. This shall be 



214 COMMENTARY. 

the last attempt of Satan to destroy the people of God ; for he shall 
be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone — not into the fire of 
wars — but into hell, where the beast and the false prophet are, and 
he shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. 

Magog was the son of Japheth, and was the father of the nations 
which inhabited the country formerly called " Scythia," and now, 
" Tartary" (Gen. 10 : 2-5) ; and Gog is considered as the title of 
their king, as Pharaoh was the name of all the kings of Egypt. 
The prophet Ezekiel (38 and 39) speaks of Gog, inhabiting the 
land of Magog, as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, which 
are supposed to be, from their analogy, " Moscow," and " Tobolsk." 
Scott thinks that, in Ezekiel, it is spoken of events anterior to the 
Millennium ; and that Gog and Magog, spoken of in St. John, 
are not the same ; for, he says, according to Ezekiel, they come 
only from the north, whilst, in St. John, they are the nations, 
" which are in the four quarters of the earth." 

But it is said in Ezekiel (38 : 5, 6) that " Persia (which is in 
the east), Ethiopia (in the south), and Libya" (west), and Gomer, 
and all his bands, the house of Togarmah (Gen. 10), who were the 
fathers of the nations, which inhabited the isles, shall come with him 
to the battle, with all their armies. Therefore, the prophets agree 
together for the countries, from which they shall come. They 
agree also for the attack of these different nations, for the time (in 
the latter days, verse 16), and yet for their destruction. For, it is 
said (verse 22): "And I will plead against him with pestilence, 
and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and 
upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and 
great hailstones, and fire, and brimstone." 

But how shall we reconcile that attack of Gog, at the head of so 
great an army of different nations, with the prophecies of Isaiah 
and Micah, saying that they shall not hurt, nor destroy in the holy 
mountain of the Lord ; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge 
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea; and all the people shall 
serve the Lord? (Ps. 72 : 8-11 ; Hab. 2 : 14.) It is evident that 
the kingdom of the Lord shall be circumscribed, till the end of the 
Millennium ; that all the other kingdoms shall only be under his 
dominion, as England and the United States, which, being inha- 
bited by the same people, spoken of (11 : 7-13) as the witnesses, 
who after a cruel persecution, stood on their feet, and ascended up 
to the throne of England, have enjoyed the blessings of the gospel 
from the time, of their triumph over the princes of darkness. 
There will be, as in these two countries, good and wicked men 
living together : " the wolf shall dwell with the lamb;" but the 
good shall be stronger than the wicked ; and, at the close of the 



COMMENTARY. 215 

Millennium, by tlie favor of Gog, an apostate prince or an avowed 
enemy of the Lord, the prevailing number of the wicked, enticed 
by the love of pillage, and deceived by Satan, shall gather together 
for this battle, which shall cause their own destruction. And, then, 
the great enemy of men, Satan, who has brought upon mankind all 
the calamities which have been inflicted upon men from the creation 
of the world, shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where 
the beast and the false prophet are, and he shall be tormented day 
and night forever and ever. 

V. 11-15. " And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from 
whose face the earth and the heavens fled away ; and there was found no 
place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; 
and the books were opened : and another book was opened, which is the book 
of life : and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in 
the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which 
were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them : 
and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and 
hell Were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And who- 
soever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake 
of fire." 

When Massillon preached his famous discourse, u On the small 
number of the elect/' before the court of Louis XIV., at Versailles, 
all his auditory arose involuntarily, as struck with terror, at the 
picture of the few of his hearers, who would be saved, should the 
Lord appear there to make the trial among them. But what is 
the picture of the great orator, in comparison with the sublimity of 
this picture of the final judgment, so grand and so majestic that it 
is beyond any human conception ! 

God appears, at a glance, sitting on a great white throne \ and 
the earth and the heavens fly away from his presence. The dead, 
small and great, stand before the judgment seat, to be judged 
according to their works. The books are opened ; no man can 
escape, for the sea gives up the dead, which have been buried in 
the deep ; death itself and the sepulchre deliver up the dead which 
are in them ; and death and the sepulchre are cast into the lake of 
fire, with those who are not found written in the book of life. 

" This is the second death ;" therefore, those* who are not re- 
conciled to God, by Jesus, and live unconcerned for their salvation, 
are like intoxicated men, dancing and rejoicing in the delusive 
thought that they are rich, whilst they are poor and miserable, and 
while the executors of men's judgments are at their door. God 
forbid that, when Christ knocks at our door, we may say, as Felix, 
" Go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient season, I 



216 COMMENTARY. 

will call for thee ;" we must not delay, while we can boldly approach 
the throne of grace, and when God is easy to be found. 

" And I saw a great white throne." The throne is white, to 
show the justice and holiness of God's judgments. He that sat on 
it, is Jesus Christ, who is the appointed judge of the quick and of 
the dead. (Rom. 2 :16; 2 Cor. 5:10); and he shall judge, not 
according to the traditions or teachings of men, but according to 
the word, which he has spoken (John 12 : 48). " The earth and 
the heavens fled away" "from his presence, " and there was found 
no place for them;" that is, every earthly thing, as wants, in- 
firmity, sickness, death, kingdoms, and earthly grandeur and glory, 
fled away ; and eternity commenced : there is time no longer. (See 
nineteenth chapter, the destruction of this world.) 

" And the books were opened." There are, then, many books 
of remembrance before the Lord ; 1st, the book of conscience, 
which is a witness against the sinner ; 2d, the book of natural law, 
by which shall be judged those who have been deprived of the 
book of God ; 3d, the book of the law given on the Mount Sinai ; 
4th, the book of the gospel, which has been opposed or rejected, 
and which shall render more dreadful the condemnation of sinners ; 
5th, the book of life, written before God for them that feared the 
Lord, and that thought upon his name (Mai. 3 : 16). 

Therefore, the character of every one shall be manifest : our 
actions, either public or secret ; our motives, intentions, obligations, 
talents, advantages, and even our idle words, thoughts, and desires, 
shall be compared with the law of God ; and the judgment shall 
be pronounced with the most exact justice, according to the talents 
intrusted to us, and the circumstances increasing or alleviating our 
culpability. The Gentiles, who have sinned without law, shall also 
perish without law; and, as many as have sinned in the law, shall 
be judged by the law (Rom. 2 : 12-16). But, by the deeds of the 
law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God; for all 
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. All the sons 
and daughters of Adam, weighed in the balances, shall be found 
wanting ; and, had not Jesus Christ, our high priest, atoned for 
our sins, we all should be condemned. 

But, thanks be to God, there is a book of remembrance before 
God for those that feared the Lord and thought upon his name. 
This book of life is the emblem of the knowledge, which God has 
of his people, whose sins he has cast into the sea, because they 
answered when he called ; they believed, and repented of their 
sins, and chose the fear of the Lord. Having been elected, accord- 
ing to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and sanctified by the 



COMMENTARY. 217 

Holy Ghost, unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of 
Jesus, they find, at that great day, as among the Jews of old, a 
rich brother, the Son of God, who is able and willing to redeem and 
restore them their heritage, which they have sold away. But the 
unbelievers have no man, no brother, to redeem their heritage, and 
it shall not go out in the jubilee (Lev. 25 : 30). They have set at 
nought the counsel of God, and would none of his reproofs ; there- 
fore, God shall laugh at their calamity. There is, now, no Media- 
tor, no throne of grace, for them that are not reconciled to God by 
Jesus Christ. But there is no condemnation to them which are 
in Christ Jesus ) for the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 
Christ our Lord (Rom. 6 : 23 ; 8:1, 31-35 ; 2 Cor. 5 : 10-21). 

" And they were judged every man according to their works." 
Some profess that they know God ; but in works they deny him. 
Therefore, we shall be judged, according to our works ; for they 
are the witnesses of the sincerity and efficacy of our faith, and 
show our character, as by the fruits we judge of the tree. Never- 
theless our works are not, as the price, by which we can buy 
heaven. It is freely given to those, who, by faith in Jesus Christ, 
take and drink the water of life. For we are saved, " not by 
works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to the 
mercy of God our Saviour, who saved us, by the washing of rege- 
neration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us 
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that being justified 
by his grace, we should be made heirs according, to the hope of 
eternal life." But, though we are saved by grace, it is by our 
works that we shall be judged whether we are in Christ or not. 
And, as Jesus Christ himself has given us a description of the final 
judgment (Matt. 25 : 31-46), we may know, by our works, whether 
we shall be set on the right, or on the left hand. The condemned 
sinners, whose names shall not be found in the book of life of the 
Lamb, shall be cast, as useless vessels, with death itself and the 
sepulchre, into the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 
And, then, Jesus having put down all rule and all authority and 
power, and destroyed death, which is the last enemy, which shall 
be subdued unto him, " shall the Son also himself be subjected 
unto Him that put all things under him, that God may be all in 
air (1 Cor. 15 : 24-28). 



19 



218 COMMENTARY. 






CHAPTEK XXL 

THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM. 

V. 1-4. " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven 
and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I 
John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of 
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. "And I heard a great 
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and 
he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself 
shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed 
away." 

Here is the end of the prophecy. For, in the following verses, 
the prophet shows who, and what church shall inherit the kingdom 
of God, and who shall be deprived of its blessings. The last 
chapter contains, as it were, the seal of the Lord, approving and 
ratifying the contents of the prophecy, and the signatures of the 
prophet, commissioned to write it, and of the Spirit, who inspired 
the prophet, and of the bride, who has experienced that it is indeed 
the word of the Lord. This passage comes immediately after the 
sixth verse of the preceding chapter. The prophet, having 
spoken of the destruction of the beast and of the false prophet ; of 
the confinement of Satan, and of the setting up of the kingdom of 
God, left off his subject, to speak of the revolt of Gog and Magog, 
and of the final judgment, which shall follow the destruction of 
these enemies of the saints of the Lord. Now, he resumes his 
subject and shows us what shall be the blessings, enjoyed under 
the government of the saints sitting on the thrones of the earth. 

" And I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the first heaven 
(the Roman Empire, either pagan or papal), and the first earth 
(heathenism and popery) were passed away; and there was no more 
sea" (no political convulsion) • consequently neither tyranny, nor 
persecution, no false prophet, no anathemas, to protect and support 
superstition and idolatry. This is a new heaven and a new earth, 
wherein dwelleth righteousness, peace, holiness, and liberty. It is 
a new earth, filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as 
the waters cover the sea, where all shall be taught of God, and 
where the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of 
their Father. " They shall sit every man under his vine and under 
his fig tree ; and none shall make them afraid : for the mouth of 



COMMENTARY. 219 

the Lord of hosts hath spoken it." They shall walk in the name 
of the Lord their God forever and ever. " And the inhabitants of 
one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray be- 
fore the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts : I will go also. And 
it shall be, that whosoever will not come up of all the families of 
the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, 
even upon them shall be no rain; and in that daylshall there be 
upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord" (Mich. 4 : 1- 
5 ; Is. 2, 11, 60, 62 ; Zech. 8 : 21-23 ; 14 : 17-20). 

'- And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down 
from God out of heaven." The holy city comes down from God 
out of heaven, to indicate that all her beauty, riches, and glory, 
come from God and the Lamb, through the powerful agency of the 
Holy Ghost. She is not the work of men : it is God who made her 
as she is. She received the ornaments, with which she is adorned, 
from the Lamb, her Lord and husband, who, through love to her, 
regarded her in her low estate, and, having given her his titles of 
grandeur and nobility, exalted her to the high dignity, which she 
holds as the bride and wife of the Son of God. 

" And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and 
they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and 
be their God." The tabernacle was a portable temple, divided into 
two parts, representing the two states of the Church and the two 
natures of Jesus Christ. The outer part, called " sanctuary," be- 
cause it had been built up to adore a holy God, to represent a holy 
Saviour, and to form a holy people, was as the court and palace of 
the great king of Israel. The inner part was called " the holiest of 
all," and was the type of heaven, and of the body of Christ, who 
permits us to have a glimpse of heavenly things, through his death 
on the cross, and to approach boldly to the throne of grace, through 
his atoning sacrifice, upon which rest the grounds of our hopes of 
eternal life and inheritance — or rather, the outer part was the type 
of the Church trodden under foot, until the times of the Gentiles 
be fulfilled, and striving to enter into the kingdom of God ; and the 
inner part represented the Church enjoying the blessings of the 
kingdom of God, during the Millennium, and after the final 
judgment, when the ransomed of the Lord shall have put on 
immortality. 

This tabernacle was the symbol of the presence of God among 
his people (Ex. 25 : 8) ; therefore, the words : " Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with men," shows that God shall dwell hence- 
forth among his people — that he will surround his Church with his 
powerful protection — -that she shall never be trodden down of the 



220 



COMMENTARY. 



Gentiles — and that he will impart to her every blessing, as it is 
expressly declared that he shall wipe away all tears from their eyes 
— that there shall be no more death, neither sorrow ; that is, perse- 
cutions, bloody crusades, nor crying under tyrants, neither shall 
there be any more pain; " for the former things (pagan and papal 
tyranny) are passed away;" and. the mountain of the Lord shall be 
all glory and happiness and rejoicings. But who shall inherit 
these blessings, and who shall be deprived of them ? These 
questions are answered in the following passages. 

V. 5-8. " And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things 
new. And he said unto me, Write : for these words are true and faithful. 
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water 
of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; and I will be his 
God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the 
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, 
and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and 
brimstone : which is the second death." 

This law, enacted by the Lord sitting upon the throne, cannot 
be a law for the inhabitants of the kingdom; for there shall be 
there neither fearfulness, nor unbelief, neither any of the abomina- 
ble things, which are mentioned in that picture. It is, then, a 
fundamental law of the kingdom, having force and power from the 
time of the prophecy. The words, " Behold, I make all things 
new," are themselves a prophecy of the destruction of the king- 
doms of the earth, and of the final triumph of his Church, signi- 
fying, " Behold, I shall make all things new." For that reason, 
our Lord adds : " Write, for these words are true and faithful." 
He is the Almighty, who could prevent him ? Has he said, and 
shall he not do it (1 : 8, 11). He will give unto him that is athirst 
of the fountain of the water of life freely (John 7 : 37-39) ; and 
he that overcometh shall inherit all things. " But the fearful, and 
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremon- 
gers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their 
part in the lake, which burnetii with fire and brimstone : which is 
the second death," the eternal misery of the soul, that chose rather 
to serve the world than the living God, and delayed to be recon- 
ciled unto him by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of 
the Holy Ghost. 

All the rest of the chapter shows us the character of the true 
Church, which shall enjoy the blessings of the kingdom of the 
Lord, and consequently the eternal happiness of heaven. For "on 
such the second death hath no power" (20 : 6) ; and, at the final 
judgment, new blessings shall yet be added to their happiness ; 



COMMENTARY. 221 

wants, infirmities, and death, shall be no more ; their mortal bodies 
shall be changed into spiritual and celestial bodies ; there shall be 
time no longer : eternity is at hand. 

V. 9-15. "And there came nnto me one of the seven angels which had 
the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, 
Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried 
me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that 
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having 
the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even 
like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had 
twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, 
which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel : on the 
east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on 
the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and 
in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked 
with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and 
the wall thereof.'' 

Here is the description of the city of God, of which glorious 
things are spoken by the holy prophets : and happy is the man, of 
whom the Lord, when he write th up the people, shall say : " This 
man was born there" (Ps. 87 : 3-6). We must not forget that 
the Lord wrote upon the Reformation the name of this glorious 
city, New Jerusalem, that he adopted Protestantism and the 
Reformers, upon whom he wrote his new name (3 : 12). We 
shall see then, whether Protestantism possesses all the characters 
of the Lamb's wife, as described here, under the allegory of a 
great city, coming down from God out of heaven, and having the 
glory of God. 

" Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." 
This angel, who was commissioned to destroy the papal league, 
knew which was the true Church of God, and was then able to 
show the prophet the bride, the Lamb's wife, with all the cha- 
racters by which she is distinguished from any other. It is 
important for us to know which is the true Church of the Lord, 
that we may not be deceived, and led astray by the show and pre- 
tensions of specious sects, and by Satan, who is transformed into 
an angel of light. Lekus, then, examine with attention the cha- 
racters of the bride of the Lamb, as they are exposed in this 
description. 

"And he carried me away in the Spirit (under a powerful 
agency of the Holy Ghost, 1:10; 4:2) to a great and high 
mountain," which is the emblem of Jesus Christ himself, of whom 
it is said that "the stone, which smote the image (of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, representing the four great monarchies, which were to 
succeed one another, Dan. 2 : 31-45) upon his feet that were of 

19* 



222 COMMENTARY. 

iron and clay (worldly religion united with the state), and brake 
them to pieces, became a great mountain and filled the whole 
earth." The great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of 
heaven from God, is built on this mountain, upon Jesus, who is 
the corner stone of his Church. She is called " the holy Jeru- 
salem," because Christ loved his Church, and gave himself for 
her, that " he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of 
water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious 
Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that 
she should be holy and without blemish." And so God is present 
in the midst of her walls, as he was in the midst of his people in 
Jerusalem, when they were faithful to his law. His glory, in the 
midst of her, sheds such torrents of light, that " her light was," 
to the eyes of the prophet, " like unto a stone most precious, even 
like a jasper stone, clear as crystal," indicating that God, who is 
represented under that symbol (4 : 3), is himself the light of his 
Church. 

" And had a wall great and high." If we examine closely all 
that is said about this wall, we shall perceive that something else 
than an ordinary wall is meant by that expression. The Song of 
Solomon (8 : 8—10) will give us the meaning of it : " We have a 
little sister (heathenism), and she hath no breasts (no word of 
God) : what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall 
be spoken for ? If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace 
of silver : and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of 
cedar. I am a wall, and my breasts like towers : then was I in 
his eyes as one that found favor." The Jewish Church is the 
city; for to the Israelites pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, 
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of 
God, and the promises. But our fathers, who were aliens from 
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of 
promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, were 
made nigh by the blood of Christ, who has made both one, and 
has broken down the middle wall of partition, that through him 
we both might have access by one Spirit unto the Father (Eph. 
2 : 11-22). Now, the Jews having rejected Christ, and his 
atoning sacrifice, it was decreed in the eternal counsel of God, 
that "the little sister," the heathens, should be like a wall, 
extending from the time of the rejection of the Jews to the second 
coming of our Lord, and the setting up of his kingdom. The two 
breasts of the little sister, namely Christianity as it was first 
preached by the apostles, and professed by the primitive churches, 
and Christianity restored by the Reformation, are the towers, built 
upon the wall, to preserve and protect the Church of the living 



COMMENTARY. 223 

God, during the times of the Gentiles. The wall was u great and 
high ;" and so the wrath of Satan and of his agents was powerless, 
either to pull it down, or to pass over it. We shall see in the 
following verses the nature and description of the wall. 

" And had twelve gates." Jesus is the only way and door to 
enter into the city, to become citizens of the commonwealth of 
Israel, and have a part with the chosen people of God. But it is 
said that the wall had twelve gates ; because the same Mediator 
and Saviour was preached, as the way and the door, by his twelve 
apostles. And there are three gates on every side of the holy city, 
to show that it is of easy access to ail men, from all parts of the 
world, through Jesus Christ : " and they shall come from the east, 
and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and 
shall sit down in the kingdom of God" (Luke 13 : 29). " And at 
the gates twelve angels," as were cherubims at the east of the 
garden of Eden, to prevent that there should in no wise enter into 
the holy city anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh 
abomination, or maketh a lie. " And names written thereon, 
which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel." 
As there is neither Jew nor Greek in Christ Jesus ; and, if we be 
Christ's, then are we Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the 
promise (Gal. 3 : 28, 29), these names, written on the gates, as on 
monuments of glory, are not the names of any of the sons of 
Abraham, but those of the Gentiles, who have overcome the world, 
and have gone forth unto Jesus without the camp, bearing his 
reproach. 

" And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them 
the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." The Church, 
which is entitled to the blessings of the commonwealth of Israel, 
is built upon (i the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus 
Christ himself being the chief corner stone ; for other foundation 
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ, who was 
delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justifica- 
tion" (Eph. 2:19-22; Rom. 4:25). No one, then, can enter 
into the holy city but through the obedience to the evangelical 
doctrines preached by the twelve apostles, and through the faith 
which was once delivered unto the saints : our faith and conversa- 
tion ought to be stamped with the seal of the apostles, and be 
conformed to the plan of salvation, as it was laid down in their 
holy writings, and preached once to the apostolic churches. 

We have seen (11 : 1, 2) that a reed, like unto a rod or yard, 
was given the prophet to measure the temple, and the altar, and 
them that worshipped therein ; — we have said that this reed repre- 
sents the word of God, by which we are taught the nature of the 



224 COMMENTARY. 

worship, which God requires from his worshippers. Those who 
do not worship according to that rule, are but nominal worshippers, 
standing out of the temple, with the Gentiles, and having conse- 
quently no part with the people of God. It is with the same 
golden reed, and not according to the judgments or traditions of 
men, that the angel measures the city with the gates and the wall 
thereof, to indicate that the law and conditions of citizenship must 
be complied with to be admitted into the holy city. We have in 
the following verses all the dimensions of the city, of its wall, and 
gates, taken with the golden reed, with which everything ought to 
be measured and examined (John 12 : 48). 

V. 16-21. "And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the 
breadth, and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. 
The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he mea- 
sured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the 
measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it 
was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the 
foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious 
stones. The * first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a 
chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx: the sixth, sardius ; 
the seventh, chrysolite ; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a 
chrysophrasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the 
twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and 
the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass." 

" And the city lieth foursquare." Of all the solid bodies, those 
which have four equal sides, are the most regular, and the most 
difficult to be moved. It is for that reason that St. Paul repre- 
sents the love of God to men, as a solid body, having breadth, and 
length, and depth, and height (Eph. 3 : 18) \ showing thus that it 
is unchangeable — that by its " breadth," it is extended even to the 
chief of sinners — by its " length," that it is the same in all ages — 
by its "depth," that it is immovable and searches out the most 
secret mysteries ) and, by its " height," that God alone could 
devise such a plan of salvation to save our fallen race. Therefore, 
these words : " the city lieth foursquare," indicate its firmness and 
beauty. " And the length is as large as the breadth •" that is, the 
salvation foretold by the prophets, typified by sacrifices and cere- 
monies, and preached to the Jewish Church by the Lord Jesus and 
his apostles, reaches equally every sinner and extends throughout 
all ages. This Church or holy city, built up among the Jews by 
our Lord, measured with the golden reed, was found to be 
" twelve thousand furlongs," which make about fifteen hundred 
miles ; that is, was found equal to the teachings of the apostles, so 
that the wall or the church of the Gentiles, built up by the apostles, 
was equal to the city, or church built up by the prophets and by 



COMMENTARY. 225 

Jesus Christ, and so the city and the wall were thus equal in all 
their extent, in breadth, length, depth, and height. 

It is evident that the number " twelve" is taken for the apostolic 
doctrines — that the number " thousand" is added to show the in- 
crease of the members of the Church, through the zeal of the 
keepers of the vineyard, who have brought to the Lord of the 
vineyard his thousand (Sol. Song, 8 : 11) ; and that the word 
" furlongs" is made use of to preserve the allegory of the Church, 
represented under the emblem of a holy city. Therefore, the 
meaning is that the Church, built up among the Jews by the Lord, 
is the same as that which is described in the writings of the 
apostles, having the same Saviour and the same promises, the same 
plan of salvation, extended to every sinner, throughout all ages, 
and being equally the work of God : " the length and the breadth 
and the height of it are equal" to the teachings of the apostles; 
consequently those who believe and profess the apostolic religion, 
in all its extent and claims, are entitled to the blessings of the 
chosen people of God. 

il And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and 
four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the 
angel." The wall, we have said, is the Church of the Gentiles, 
grafted in, among the Jews, into a good olive tree, to preserve 
Christianity, during the time of the blindness and unbelief of the 
chosen people of G-od, to the setting up of the kingdom of the 
Lord. This church, then, being measured with the golden reed, 
was "an hundred and forty and four cubits." Here again, the 
number " twelve" is taken for the teachings of the twelve apostles; 
and this number, being multiplied by itself, makes one hundred 
and forty-four : which expresses perfectly the handing down of the 
same plan of salvation, from men to men, throughout ages, as by 
the multiplication of the same thing, or of the same number multi- 
plied by itself, preserving always the same root, as it is also indicated 
by the foursquare of the city. This Church of the Gentiles, con- 
sidered either as the primitive church founded by the apostles, or 
reformed from popery — which are the two towers of the wall (Song 
8 : 10) or the two witnesses — being measured, judged and ex- 
amined with the golden reed, was found to be conformed to the 
teachings of the apostles ; and consequently entitled to enjoy the 
blessings of the holy city with the chosen people of God. But her 
faithfulness was not spotless : it was not an angelic perfection • it was 
a human faithfulness; therefore the works, labors, faith, and patience 
of this church, are measured with the measure of a man ; that is, of 
the angel, who had put on the human form. The word " cubits" 
indicates the works of our hands, and shows that this church had 



226 COMMENTARY. 

been sanctified, and made meet for the master's use, and prepared 
unto every good work : so, in her infirmity and weakness, she was 
found faithful, according to the claims of the gospel. 

" And the building of the wall of it was of jasper." It is said 
(4 : 3) that God "was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine 
stone j" if we apply to the building of the wall the signification of 
this emblem of the glory of God, we shall have for its meaning : 
"And the members or Christians composing the church of the 
Gentiles, throughout ages, were godly Christians, having the image 
of the holy and glorious God." The following words, " and the 
city was pure gold, like unto clear glass," show evidently that such 
is the signification of this emblem ; for they are but a consequence 
of this exposition. 

This is the argument of the prophet : the Church, built up by 
the Lord Jesus, was holy, having the plan of salvation, by which 
even the chief of sinners could be saved; the plan of salvation, 
taught by the apostles, is conformed to that plan in all its extent, and 
can consequently form a holy church ; now, the Church of the 
Gentiles, being examined by the word of God, is found to be built 
upon the same plan ; and the members, who are like the building 
or materials of the wall, are found, notwithstanding human infirmi- 
ties, to be in Christ, and having in this manner the express image 
of God ; therefore " the city was pure gold (righteous and spotless), 
like unto clear glass" (Eph. 5 : 25-27) ; and again : "the founda- 
tions of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of pre- 
cious stones," that is, with all manner of good works, testifying 
that their conversion was genuine, and that they were truly con- 
cerned for the kingdom and the glory of God. 

That such is the meaning of these words, the apostle Paul gives 
us an evident proof, when he says that, as a wise master builder, he 
has laid the foundation, and that another buildeth thereon — that 
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus 
Christ — that if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, 
precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be 
made manifest : for the day shall declare it, because it shall be 
revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every man's work of what 
sort it is (1 Cor. 3 : 10-15). Now, there is neither wood, nor hay, 
nor stubble garnishing the wall of the holy Jerusalem ; but they 
are garnished with precious stones. In the same manner, gold, as 
the purest and the most precious of metals, was, in all the symbols 
of the covenant of God with men, as in the golden censer, the ark, 
and the mercy seat, the emblem of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 
Therefore, the city which " was pure gold, like unto clear glass," 
shows that the righteousness and holiness of Jesus Christ has been 



COMMENTARY. 227 

imputed to his Church, which was manifested in his sight (Heb. 
4 : 12, 13), so that she is found spotless before God. 

But, instead of one foundation, twelve are spoken of here, not 
only because each of the twelve apostles laid one and the same 
foundation in the building of God ; but because the Church de- 
rived from the plan of salvation, taught by the apostles to the 
Gentiles, several gifts and blessings, which are represented by as 
many precious stones. The precious stones, representing the good 
works of the Christians, forming the Church of the Gentiles, 
garnish the foundations of the wall of the city ; but these latter are 
themselves the foundations, and represent the Author of the plan of 
salvation, and the gifts and blessings, which are derived from this 
covenant of God with men (Ps. 68 : 18 ; Eph. 4 : 4-16), and by 
which the Church was made holy, and preserved, in her purity, 
throughout all ages. 

"The first foundation was jasper," indicating that God the 
Father, represented under the symbol of that precious stone (4 : 3), 
is the first foundation, the author and grand architect of the plan 
of salvation, as the sapphire, which is either a blue crystal, or a 
bright one, called oriental ruby, represents Jesus Christ, as the 
second foundation ; for it was " as the appearance of a sapphire 
stone/' that the Prince of the covenant and Captain of our salva- 
tion, appeared to the prophet Ezekiel (1 : 26), when he saw him 
sitting on the throne. " The third foundation was a chalcedony," 
which may represent the Holy Ghost ; for chalcedony, a precious 
stone, so called from Chalcedon, a town in Asia Minor, is a trans- 
lucent variety of quartz, having a whitish color and a lustre nearly 
like wax. And it is to be remarked that, as the Holy Ghost, who 
continues the work of the Lord for the salvation of men, produces 
in believers faith, hope, charity, and is the dispenser of the 
heavenly gifts,, so chalcedony constitutes many other precious 
stones. When of different colors and arranged in stripes, it con- 
stitutes " agate f if the stripes are all horizontal, it is u onyx." 
Chrysoprase is nothing else than green chalcedony; cornelian is 
a flesh-red, and sardius a grayish-red variety. Chalcedonix is a 
variety of agate, in which white and gray layers alternate. 

For the precious stones, which form the other foundations, I 
shall give only their description, as they are found in Webster's Dic- 
tionary; and I shall attribute to any of them the corresponding 
gifts of the Holy Ghost, in the order, in which they are presented, 
in the twelfth chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, 
without pretending to assert that the prophet had any design to 
express anything else than the excellency of these gifts, or that 
any special gift be designated, rather than any other, by the nature 



228 COMMENTARY. 

of the corresponding precious stones. One thing is certain : the 
prophet explains, under this emblematic language, the nature and 
constitution of the Church of the Gentiles, and the gifts and bless- 
ings, which flow from the plan of salvation • and his description is 
equivalent to that, which is given by the apostle Paul, saying, 
" There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one 
hope of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God 
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure 
of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, "When he ascended up 
on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. And 
he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evange- 
lists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the 
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 
Christ : till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the know- 
ledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4 : 4-16). Here is, 
now, the nature of the precious stones of every foundation with the 
gifts of the Holy Ghost, as they are described in the twelfth chapter 
of the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. " The fourth 
foundation was an emerald/ ' a precious stone of a green color, and 
identical, except in color, with the beryl : -" now there are diver- 
sities of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are differences of 
administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of 
operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But 
the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit 
withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdorn." 
(See Is. 11 : 2.) 

" The fifth, sardonyx," from Sardis, a city of Asia Minor, and 
" onux" a nail, so named from the resemblance of its color to the 
flesh under the nail. Its color is reddish-yellow, or orange-colored 
agate, with an undulating surface : " to another the word of know- 
ledge by the same Spirit." 

" The sixth, sardius," a variety of chalcedony, which has a rich 
brownish-red color. Between the eye and the light, it appears a deep 
blood-red : "to another faith by the same Spirit," and consequently, 
hope and charity as its fruits. 

" The seventh, chrysolite." Its prevailing color is some shade 
of green, harder than glass, but less hard than quartz, often trans- 
parent, sometimes only translucent : ".to another the gifts of heal- 
ing by the same Spirit." 

"The eighth, beryl," which is a mineral of great hardness, 
occurring in green or bluish-green six-sided prisms, identical with 



COMMENTARY. 229 

the emerald, except in color. Its color is oxide of iron : " to an- 
other the working of miracles." 

" The ninth, a topaz/' which is generally of yellowish color and 
pellucid ; but it is also met with colorless, and of greenish, bluish, 
or brownish shades, and sometimes massive and opaque : " to an- 
other prophecy." 

" The tenth, a chrysoprasus," which is a mineral, a variety of quartz. 
Its color is commonly apple-green, and often extremely beautiful ; 
it is translucent or sometimes semi-transparent : " to another dis- 
cerning of spirits." 

" The eleventh, a jacinth," a species of pellucid gem. Hyacinth 
is a red variety of zircon, which is a mineral containing the earth 
zirconia and silica, occurring in square prisms with pyramidal ter- 
minations of brown and gray color, occasionally red, and often nearly 
transparent : " to another divers kinds of tongues." 

"The twelfth, an amethyst," a precious stone approaching the 
color of wine ; a species of quartz of a bluish violet color. The 
oriental amethyst is the violet-blue variety of transparent crystal- 
lized corundum, which is a massive mineral of extreme hardness, 
consisting of nearly pure alumina : "to another the interpretation 
of tongues ; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, 
dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, 
and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, 
being many, are one body : so also is Christ. For by one Spirit 
are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, 
whether we be bond or free ; and have been all made to drink into 
one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12 : 4-31). 

Such are the emblems of the fundamental gifts and graces^ origi- 
nating from the plan of salvation, upon which stands the constitu- 
tion of the church of the Gentiles. And, as the twelve precious 
stones of the breastplate of judgment, which the high priest bare 
upon his heart, were with the names of the children of Israel, to 
show that he was, as a public officer, acting with equal love to all, 
so the precious stones of the twelve foundations, representing the 
gifts and graces, by which the believers become entitled to the 
glory and happiness of the kingdom of God, are engraved, as it 
were, in the foundation, which is Jesus Christ, the high priest of 
his Church, who died with equal love for every member of his 
ransomed people (Is. 54 : 11-17). 

? And the twelve gates were twelve pearls ; every several gate 
was of one pearl." Jesus is the only door, to enter into the holy 
city ; but twelve are spoken of, because the same Jesus was pointed 
out, as the door, by the twelve apostles. Every several gate was 
of one pearl, showing that there is but one Lord and Mediator by 

20 



230 COMMENTARY. 

whom we can be permitted to enter in ; and, as the pearl is pre- 
cious, we ought to deny ourselves and forsake even our father and 
mother, to purchase it ; for " the kingdom of heaven is like unto 
a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls : who, when he had found 
one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought 
it 1 ' (Matt. 13 : 45). Jesus himself is that pearl of great price ; all 
the saints, who will obtain entrance into the holy city, must enter 
by the same door, and buy the same pearl at any price ; for there 
is no other door, no other way, but by the blood of Jesus, " who 
of God has been made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and 
sa notification, and redemption." As he is the way as well as the 
door, " the street of the city is pure gold, as it were transparent 
glass." It is the strait gate and narrow way; but it leadeth unto 
life ; and we must strive to enter in at this strait gate and by this 
narrow way : though few there be that find it. Jesus, then, the 
only door to enter into the holy city, is represented by a pearl of 
great price, to show that we ought to abandon all we have, even 
our life, to follow him. He is also the way, or the street of the 
city, which is pure gold, showing the riches of his love, and the 
righteousness, which is imputed to those who, being reconciled to 
God by the blood of his cross, walk therein, with a holy conversa- 
tion, to enter into the heavenly Jerusalem. 

V. 22-27. " And I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God Almighty and 
the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither 
of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb 
is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in 
the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into 
it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be 
no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that derlleth, neither whatso- 
ever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie ; but they which are written in the 
Lamb's book of life." 

" And I saw no temple therein." The temple, which, at Jeru- 
salem, was the symbol of the presence of God in the midst of his 
people, was a material temple, a shadow of things to come ) but 
here it is an allegoric description of a spiritual city : and there is 
no material temple to be seen there. But yet, such is not the 
meaning of the prophet : the meaning is, that the holy city, being 
trodden under foot, during the times of the Gentiles (11 : 2), shall 
not be allowed to have a temple, that is, to enjoy the liberty of 
worship, as it has been the case, even in France, to the revolution 
in 1792, when only the temple of God was opened, " and there was 
seen in his temple the ark of his testament" (11 : 19). Then only 
the liberty of worship was granted — and yet how false a liberty ! 



COMMENTARY. 231 

But, if they are deprived of that liberty, u the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb are the temple of it :" the rich pavilion of heaven, 
stretched out over their heads, is their temple, and the Lord God 
and the Lamb are with them, in their closets and in the wilder- 
ness, — the Lamb, to atone for their sins and reconcile them unto 
God, — and the Lord God, to accept them graciously, as sons and 
daughters, in the name of his beloved Son. 

" And the city had no need of the sun (of the kings or emperors), 
neither of the moon (of the established religion, or overruling 
church, feeding the flock of God by constraint, as being Lords over 
God's heritage), to shine in it," to dictate them laws, to repress 
wickedness and to prescribe religious worship, and good works ; 
"for the glory of God did lighten it (teach them their duty, Heb. 
8 : 11), and the Lamb is the light thereof" (Ps. 38 : 8 ; 84 : 11 ; Is. 
30 : 20, 21). "And the nations of them which are saved (which 
are no more under the dark papal sway, as the north of Germany, 
England, and the United States) shall walk in the light of it (of 
the true church and of the gospel of the Lamb) ; and the kings of 
the earth (the pagan Roman emperors and the kings supporters of 
popery) do bring their glory and honor into it;" that is, the elect of 
the Lord, who are the precious of the earth, the honor and glory 
of their kingdoms (Heb. 11 : 38). The verb is in the present, to 
show that, even the Roman pagan emperors did already bring the 
chosen people of God into the Church, when the prophecy was 
written. 

" And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day." The 
prophet Isaiah (60 : 11-22) speaking of the glory of the Church in 
the abundant access of the Gentiles, says : " Therefore thy gates 
shall be open continually ; they shall not be shut day nor night ; 
that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that 
their kings may be brought." The prophet says only that they 
shall not be shut "by day," showing that a continual day will shine 
in it ; that the Gentiles shall be able to enter into the Church, at 
any time; " for there shall be no night there ;" and so the gates 
shall never be shut ; the true church shall be easily distinguished 
from the spurious, even when she shall be obliged to fly into the 
wilderness, to escape from the persecution of Satan. The night is 
taken for spiritual darkness, idolatry, strifes, rioting, and drunken- 
ness (Rom. 13 : 12-14), and the day represents the spiritual light, 
which shall shine continually in the holy city. 

" And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into 
it." The prophet has said previously that the nations of them 
which are saved shall walk in its light; that the kings of the earth, 
either pagan or papist, did bring their glory and honor into it ; 



232 COMMENTARY. 

now, lie draws a general conclusion that all the godly men, the 
ransomed of the Lord, who are the glory and honor of the nations, 
either pagan, or papist, or Protestant, shall be brought into the holy 
city. Though some of the nations be saved, being set apart from 
popery, and walking in the light of the gospel, there are but the 
true believers, who shall enter into it; for " there shall in no wise 
enter into it anything that denleth, neither whatsoever worketh 
abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the 
Lamb's book of life. " 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY CITY CONTINUED THE TREE 

AND THE WATERS OE LIFE THE PROPHECY APPROVED AND 

RATIEIED. 

Y. 1-5. "And be showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, 
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street 
of it and on either side of the river; was there the tree of life, which bare twelve 
manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the 
tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: 
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it: and his servants shall 
serve him : and they shall see his face ; and his name shall be in their fore- 
heads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither 
light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign 
forever and ever." 

We have here the end of the description of the mystic city, the 
holy Jerusalem. In the midst of this new Eden, and in the midst 
of the garden, planted by the Lamb, for his wife, there is also a 
tree of life, to give immortality to its inhabitants, and a pure river 
of water of life, to water the garden ; it is the paradise restored. 

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as 
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. ;; 
As a thirsty land is refreshed and made fruitful by the dew of 
heaven, so a thirsty soul is refreshed and revived by the word of 
God. This pure river of water of life is the emblem of the gospel 
of our Lord, who was that rock, in Horeb, out of which the waters 
came that the children of Israel might drink. Sinners are 
invited to go to Christ, as to the fountain opened, to wash away 
their sins, through the agency of the Holy Ghost ; and whosoever 
drinketh of the water that he will give him, shall never thirst ) but 
this water shall be in him a well of water springing up into ever- 
lasting life (Is. 55 : 1-5 ; John 4 : 10-14; 7 : 37-39). 



COMMENTARY. 



233 



The waters of the grace of God, which flow from the gospel of 
our Lord, and by which we are sanctified through the agency of 
the Holy Ghost, are pure "and clear as crystal/' to show that the 
righteousness which they confer upon the believer is perfect, without 
blemish and without spot ; that, in obeying the truth of the gospel 
through the Spirit, they are born again of incorruptible seed, by 
the word of God, and are made a chosen generation, a royal priest- 
hood, a holy nation, a peculiar people ; that they should show forth 
the praises of him who has called them out of darkness into his 
marvellous light. These waters of regeneration proceed " out of 
the throne of God and of the Lamb f' because, in the plan of salva- 
tion, the grace, which reinstates the sinner, does not proceed out of 
himself, neither out of his merits, nor of his works ; but from God 
the Father, as the source of all good — from the Son, as our 
Mediator and Redeemer — and from the Holy Ghost, who, by his 
divine agency, enlightens and sanctifies us. The Father elected us 
from eternity, according to his foreknowledge; the Son redeemed 
and cleansed us from our iniquities, and imputed us his righteous- 
ness ; and the Holy Ghost sanctifies us by subjecting us unto the 
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1 : 
2, 3). In this manner, the sons and daughters of Adam, banished, 
for sin, out of the garden of Eden, receive new titles to eternal 
life, through this plan of salvation, in which the three persons of 
the Most Holy Trinity have distinct operations, but so united to- 
gether that no man could be saved, were he not elected by the 
Father, redeemed by the Son, and led to the gospel and sanctified 
by the powerful agency of the Holy Ghost. 

The prophet Ezekiel (47 : 1-12) represents the preaching and 
progress of the gospel, under the same emblem of waters which 
issued out from under the threshold of the temple of Jerusalem, 
and which were rising from distance to distance, in such a mariner 
that they became a river that could not be passed over. At the 
bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the 
other ; and these waters, which issued out towards the east country, 
went down into the desert and into the sea (the dead sea, the 
emblem of pagan nations); and being brought forth into the sea, 
" the waters," he says, " shall be healed. And it shall come to 
pass, that everything that livebh, which moveth, whithersoever the 
rivers shall come, shall live. But the miry places thereof and the 
marshes thereof shall not be healed ; they shall be given to salt ;" 
that is, they shall be made, as the wife of Lot, an example unto 
those that thereafter should live ungodly ; and shall be as monuments 
or pillars, upon which the ungodly shall learn wisdom, of which 
salt is the emblem. Therefore, the waters are the emblem of the 

20* 



234 COMMENTARY. 

gospel preached to all the nations of the world, to form a holy 
nation, a peculiar people unto the Lord, and zealous unto good 
works. 

"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the 
river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of 
fruits, and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the 
tree were for the healing of the nations. " The street of the city, 
which is pure gold, as it were transparent glass, being the emblem 
of Jesus Christ, our righteousness, and the way to the holy city, 
the tree of life is consequently planted and rooted in him, and in 
his righteousness, figured by the gold of the street, as in a fruitful 
ground, and is, then, the emblem of the new birth and regene- 
ration of those who are watered by the living waters of the word 
of God (Gen. 3 : 22-24 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 22). Christians are them- 
selves called " trees of righteousness" (9:4; Jer. 11 : 19), because 
they have been grafted into this good olive tree by the preaching 
of the Gospel ; and this tree of life is " on either side of the river," 
showing that the preaching of the Gospel brings life and immor- 
tality not only in Christian lands, but even in the surrounding 
countries, as it may be clearly seen that popery is not as 
hideous and pernicious in Protestant countries as in Spain, Italy, 
and even in France, where the sound of the gospel is scarcely 
heard. As the tree of life has been planted by the twelve apostles, 
it is said that it "bare twelve manner of fruits," and that it 
"yielded her fruit every month," to indicate that the wants of the 
elect were abundantly supplied. These twelve manner of fruits 
may be also the principal graces and virtues of those who have put 
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and 
true holiness ; but they are rather the different gifts of the Holy 
Ghost (1 Cor. 12:27-31). 

" And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." 
The leaves are the emblems of the beauty and prosperity of the 
Church of God and of her members renewed by the word and the 
Spirit of God (Ps. 1:3); and, as the leaves of many trees are used 
for medicine, the prophet employs this figure to indicate that the 
beauty and prosperity which shall adorn this tree of life and 
immortality, shall be instrumental to the conversion of the nations. 
The nations cannot taste the sweet fruits of the Gospel ; for, except 
a man be born again, he can neither see the kingdom of God, nor 
understand the peace, joy, and happiness, which are experienced 
by the children of the kingdom ; but they can witness the eminent 
virtues of Christians, their peace and happiness, and see their good 
works, their charity, and their zeal in the missionary work, for the 
setting up of the kingdom of God : which things are, as it were, the 



COMMENTARY. 235 

external glory and ornament of the tree of life. Therefore, the 
meaning is that the glory of those, who shall be grafted in the tree 
of life and entitled to eat its fruits of life, shall be displa} r ed in 
sending the Gospel to the nations : and the nations shall go and 
say : " Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to 
the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, 
and we will walk in his paths." 

" And there shall be no more curse (no papal anathema, no 
bloody crusade, when the kingdom shall be given to the saints of 
the ivlost High) ; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be 
in it ; and his servants shall serve him (with liberty) : and they 
shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads/' 
showing by their works as well as by their profession that they are 
the Lord's. "And there shall be no night there" (no persecution, 
no wickedness, no hypocrisy, no spiritual darkness; Rom. 13 : 12); 
"and they need no candle," no gospel minister, to say to his 
brother, " Know the Lord :"; for all shall know him, from the least 
to the greatest (Heb. 8 : 10-13 ; 1 John 2:27); " neither light of 
the sun (neither ordinances of kings to govern them) ; for the Lord 
God giveth them light (is their lawgiver, who teaches them their 
duty) : and they shall reign for ever and ever ;" for it is their 
Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom (Luke 12 : 32), 
when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. 

Such is the explanation of this allegorical description of the true 
Church of God,- — not of the triumphant church in heaven, but of 
the militant church, trodden under foot of the Gentiles (11 : 2), 
and which shall be presented as the bride of the Lamb, at the 
coming of the Lord (19 : 7-9), to enjoy the blessings of the king- 
dom. She is called "New Jerusalem," not because the temple at 
Jerusalem was the type of Christianity, — for the type and the anti- 
type represent one and the same thing, — but because Christianity, 
as taught by the apostles, having been defiled and destroyed by 
papal delusions, the Lord spewed out of his mouth this spurious 
Christianity, renounced this first name, taken from his own, and 
adopted the Reformation, upon which he wrote the name of his 
God, the name of " New Jerusalem," and his own new name, and 
caused it to be called by his new name "Protestantism" (3 : 12), 
whose doctrines, as taught by the Reformers, and which are the 
word of God, are clearly characterized in the allegorical descrip- 
tion which we have just examined. If this new name of the Lord 
is not "Protestant," tell me what it is? The Church of the Gen- 
tiles, represented by "the wall of the city," has two breasts, or 
churches, called the two witnesses, which ought to be the towers 
(Song 8 : 10) to protect Christianity, during the times of the 



236 COMMENTARY. 

Gentiles : the first is the primitive church, founded by the apostles; 
and the second, the New Jerusalem, which was founded by the 
Reformers, who were made " pillars" in the temple of God, by the 
Lord of the temple (3 : 12). 

V. 6-9. "And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and 
the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants 
the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly : blessed is 
he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I John saw 
these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down 
to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. 
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not : for I am thy fellow-servant, and 
of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this 
book : worship God." 

We have now the conclusion of the prophecy. As in a nota- 
rial deed, the contract is signed by the stipulating parties, by the 
witnesses, and by the notary, who approves and ratifies everything 
contained in the contract, so the prophecy is, as it were, signed by 
turns, by the angel, as the delegate or ambassador^ sent by the 
Lord Jesus, to reveal the things which are written therein 5 — by 
the prophet, to whom the Revelation was made, and by whom it 
has been written ; — by Jesus Christ, who approves and ratifies the 
things written by his prophet ) — and by the Spirit and the bride, 
as the witnesses, who testify of the truth of the prophecy, and 
invite every one to come, and take the water of life freely. 

The angel, having shown the prophet the holy city and the 
future blessings of its citizens, says unto him that " these sayings 
are faithful and true," and that it is the Lord God, who sent his 
angel (1 : 1) to show his servants the things which must shortly 
be done. The Lord approves these words of the angel, and says, 
" Behold, I come quickly : blessed is he that keepeth the sayings 
of the prophecy of this book :"■ blessed is he that shall not be 
defiled by the devilish doctrines of popery, that shall be faithful 
unto death, and prepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb, 
when his enemies shall be made his footstool ) for it is true that I 
have sent my angel to show these things unto my servant and 
prophet. 

" And I John saw these things and heard them." Here is the 
signature of the prophet, who is like the notary, and testifies of 
what he has seen and heard (1 : 1-4, 9). He is John, known to 
the churches, as the faithful and beloved disciple of the Lord; 
therefore, his testimony may be relied upon ; for he is not a forger 
of false visions to deceive the churches of his Lord. " And when 
I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the 
angel which showed me these things." It is not, as it is supposed 



COMMENTARY. 237 

by Scott, a new fall of the prophet to worship the angel ; but it is 
the same which we have seen (19 : 10) ; and it is mentioned here 
as a new proof of the truth of the wonderful vision, which he has 
just described. 

Nevertheless, let us not pass without notice, the words of the 
angel, " See thou do it not : for I am thy fellow-servant, and of 
thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings 
of this book : worship God." If an angel, the most excellent of 
creatures, rebukes thus the least appearance of worship, when he is 
present, what should we think of the worship of absent angels, of 
the saints, and even of dumb images of wood, and stone ? Could 
the apostles Peter and Paul, and Mary, whose worship has been 
extolled above that of Jesus, see men kneeling down before them- 
selves, as they do before their insensible images, would they 
not say, as the angel, " See thou do it not : worship God ?" " Stand 
up," says Peter to Cornelius, whom he took up, " I myself also am 
a man" (Acts 10 : 26). " Why do ye these things," Paul says to 
the inhabitants of Lystra ; " we also are men of like passions with 
you ?" (Acts 14": 15.) Now, if it is a sin, and idolatrous worship, 
to kneel before the angels and saints of the Lord, what shall we 
say of the worship of relics, of idols of brass, of stone, and wood ? 
" Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake ) to the dumb stone, 
Arise, it shall teach I" (Hab. 2 : 19. See Is. 44 : 9-20.) 

It is an illusion of the devil to believe that the succor of the 
saints is wanted to approach the throne of God, as it is necessary 
that we should be introduced to the throne of the kings of the 
earth by their ministers. If we are unworthy, by ourselves, to 
approach the throne of God, we have a powerful Mediator, his 
beloved Son, who being God and man, unites heaven and earth 
together ; and by whom we can " come boldly unto the throne of 
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of 
need. Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none 
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be 
saved. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and 
men, the man Christ Jesus" (Acts 4 : 12 ; 1 Tim. 2:5); to invoke 
other mediators than Jesus, is to revolt against the government of 
God, and to say with the Jews, his enemies, " Away with this man, 
and release unto us Barabbas I" 

Another illusion of the devil is to suppose that the Jews only 
were concerned by the laws forbidding the worship of images ; be- 
cause they were prone to idolatry. The proof that men are always 
and everywhere the same is, that notwithstanding the same laws, 
which have not been revoked, and the dreadful calamities, by which 
the Jewish people have been visited for the same transgression, we 



238 COMMENTARY. 

see everywhere temples built to the saints, and costly chapels, in 
which stands a stock of a tree, or a block of stone, to which a work- 
man has given a human form, and before which, even in our days, 
men are kneeling down and say, " Deliver me ; for thou art my 
God !" There can be no comparison between this idolatrous worship 
of relics and of graven images, and the picture of a beloved father, 
mother, wife, or husband ; for to the one we render a religious 
worship, which is an abomination before Grod; and to the others 
we attribute no virtue, no religious power : they recall only to our 
minds the features of a person, which was dear to us in many re- 
spects : there is no religious feelings there, no worship ; whilst it 
has been decreed, concerning molten images, that there were but 
the damnable heretics who said that they should not be worshipped 
as their originals. 

V. 10-15. "And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy 
of this book : for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust 
still : and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that is righteous, 
let him be righteous still : and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, 
behold, I come quickly: and my reward is with me, to give every man 
according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, 
that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the 
gates of the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, 
and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." 

The prophet goes on relating the words of the angel, who told 
him, " Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book •/' that is, 
keep them not secret, publish them, in order that the events may 
be compared with the prophecy, and that the fulfilment, which is 
at hand, may render more guilty the unjust man who continues to 
be unjust still, and more filthy, the man who persists in his filthi- 
ness ) that he who is righteous may improve these events to persist 
in his righteousness, and he that is holy, in his holiness. The Lord 
approving these words of the angel, says, " Behold, I come quickly; 
and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work 
shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the 
first and the last" (1 : 8-11). 

Jesus has his reward with him to give every man according to 
his works, either to chastise the wicked, or to recompense the just 
and holy ; not to save them by their works ; for then, he should 
no longer be their Saviour. But God, who forgives our sins, and 
invites us to take the waters of life freely, by our faith in the name 
of his Son, will still reward the good works which we accomplish, 
not to gain heaven, which God does not sell, and which we could 
by no means buy ; but because, being saved by grace, we delight in 



COMMENTARY. 239 

doing the works which are pleasing in his sight, and which are the 
fruits of our faith and the evidence of our Christian life. As the 
tree is judged by its fruits, so Christians are judged by their works 
(Gal. 5 : 16-26); for, unless they be trees of righteousness, the 
planting of the Lord, grafted, by faith, in the tree of life, they are 
unable to say, with faith, "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the 
living God/' 

" Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may 
have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates 
into the city." There is a close connection between our faith and 
our works j for faith without works is dead (James 2 : 20). There- 
fore Paul keeps under his body, and brings it into subjection, lest 
that by any means, when he has preached to others, he should be 
himself a castaway (1 Cor. 9 : 27). Faith ought to be, in our hearts 
and understandings, as a precious ointment, removing the fetid 
odor of vice and sin, and exerting our faculties to work for the 
glory of God, and to garnish the foundations of the plan of our 
salvation with all manner of precious stones. The tree of life is 
planted in the Lord Jesus, and it grows wherever the gospel is 
preached, and on either side of the river of the holy waters of re- 
generation. Men, grafted in that tree of life, are called " trees of 
righteousness ?' and if they be barren and unfruitful in the know- 
ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, they are blind and cannot see afar 
off, and have forgotten that they were purged from their old sins : 
they have no right to the tree of life ; for the Lord has said, " Every 
branch in me that beareth not fruit, he (the Father who is the hus- 
bandman) taketh away : and every branch that beareth fruit, he 
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15 : 2—8). 
Therefore the fruitful branches of the tree or of the vine, those 
who do the commandments of the Lord, shall have right of citizen- 
ship to enter in through the gates into the holy city, and to enjoy the 
happy immortality. Here is true happiness, unknown to the world, 
and even to philosophers, who place happiness, not in the things in 
which the soul is concerned, but in the riches and in the gross 
enjoyments of the things of this life. The soul ? It is man. 
Therefore, any happiness, in which the soul is not concerned, is 
but imaginary, and a Satanic delusion. Blessed, then, are they 
alone that have right to the tree of life, to enter into the city; 
"For without are dogs (impudent), and sorcerers, and whore- 
mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and 
maketh a lie." 

V. 16-17. "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things 
in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and 
morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that 



240 COMMENTARY. 

heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, 
let him take the water of life freely." 

The Lord Jesus acknowledges having; delegated his angel to de- 
liver this prophecy to his servant John, and by him, to the seven 
churches of Asia. The angel was then commissioned by the Lord, 
and acted in his name ; and so, the things contained in the pro- 
phecy are approved and ratified by Jesus, who styles himself, here, 
u the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning 
star." As God, he is the root, which brought forth David ; and, 
as man, he was the son of David, the Branch which grew out of 
the roots of Jesse (Is. 11:1). He is also the bright star, which 
was to come out of Jacob, and have dominion over his enemies 
(Numb. 24 : 17) ; and, as the morning star, shining in the dark- 
ness of the night, foretells the coming of the sun, so Jesus ap- 
peared, at his birth, not as the sun, but as a bright star, in the 
darkness of the world ; and, when the darkness of paganism 
shall be dispelled, at his second coming, this bright star, in his 
morning, shall shine as the sun — the sun of righteousness — in 
the midst of the Holy City, giving peace, and joy, and glory, 
to his people. Again : when this shepherd and bishop of our souls, 
is first manifested in the heart of a converted sinner, his light is 
surrounded with darkness, as the light of the star; "But the path 
of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto 
the perfect day" (Prov. 4 : 18) ; and that is the work of the Lord, 
who removes our spiritual darkness, more and more, until we are, 
as it were, immerged into an ocean of lights. 

The Spirit, who is the true witness, and the bride, who has ex- 
perienced the power and goodness of the Lord, say to all the sons 
and daughters of men : " Come ;" be partakers of the blessings of 
the gospel, and enjoy the happiness of the kingdom of the Son of 
David ; for we testify that Jesus is truly the star of Jacob, and the 
son of David, who is to reign on the throne of his father, and who 
shall redeem his people from their enemies. Let every one that 
heareth (who understands that he is truly the Holy One of Israel) 
say: " Come," parents; come, friends and neighbors! Come, 
" every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath 
no money ; come ye, buy, and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, 
without money and without price, and let your soul delight itself 
in fatness; for the Lord has made an everlasting covenant with 
you, even the sure mercies of David" (Is. 55 : 1-5). 

Sinners are, then, invited " to take the water of life freely." Let 
no one dare to change the condition of salvation, or to advocate any 
restriction, when there is none. God does not write as men do : 
We are invited to search the Scriptures ; and we must draw the 



COMMENTARY. 241 

just consequences which follow from the word of God. Our Lord 
is a perfect Redeemer; he has accomplished his work of redemp- 
tion. Therefore, the forgiven ess of sins does not proceed from 
works, which we have done; for one must be born spiritually, 
before being enabled to act and live spiritually ; but it proceeds 
entirely from the perfect work of our redemption, accomplished by 
the Son, and accepted by God the Father; "For God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth 
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 

V. 18-21. "For I testify unto every man, that heareth the words of the 
prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall 
add unto him the plagues that are written in this book : and if any man shall 
take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away 
his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things 
which are written in this book. He that testified! these things saith, Surely 
I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." 

When God has spoken, we must listen and adore in silence. It 
is a great temerity either to add to, or to take anything away from 
his word. Woe to the false doctors, who make void the words of 
God, to teach their own inventions, after the traditions of men, and 
the rudiments of the w T orld, and not after Christ (Col. 2 : 8-23) : 
" God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book;" 
for this is the sin of the great Antichrist, and of his agents. He 
has substituted for the word of God, the dreams and inventions of 
his monks. He has invented sacraments for every important affair 
of life, in order that men should be as slaves under his dominion, 
—he has added six commands, to. the commandments of God, — 
ordered fasts and abstinence, where God required nothing, — pre- 
scribed a religious worship to the saints, — enclosed their relics in 
shrines, enriched with gold and precious stones, and instituted days 
of rest, and feast-days, which are celebrated with more honor than 
the sabbaths and feasts of the Lord. And, though these inventions 
be criminal, for having been invented by the devil of ambition and 
pride, they are yet more so, because they take out of our sight 
God's commands, ordinances, sacraments, and sabbaths, and because 
the Holy One, Jesus, the true Mediator, is unknown and lost from 
our sight, among these millions of imaginary mediators. 

On the other side, the infidel, with the same right, rejects the 
miracles, because he has never seen any, and the mysteries, because 
they cannot be explained by reason ; and he maintains that, if we 
do good, it matters not what we believe. He does not know that, 
after the fall of man, and the curse of God, nothing within our 
power, and within the elements of the first creation, could rescue 

21 



242 COMMENTARY. 

our fallen race from its ruins ; consequently that Christianity, which 
is a religion of mercy, must of necessity be supernatural, and con- 
sistent with the holy character of a just and merciful God, and can 
neither have its foundation on the natural law, nor be explained 
by the reason of the natural man, who has no right to inter- 
fere with the conditions, or the means, by which mankind may 
still be entitled to the divine favor. Has God spoken or not 
by his prophets ? Has he promised, and has he sent his Son to the 
world ? These questions are within the power and criterion of 
reason. God himself invites us to search the Scriptures, to be 
always ready to give an account of our faith ; and it would be, for 
us, mere credulity and superstition, were we to embrace, without 
examination, a religion whose evidence we should not have acknow- 
ledged. But when, after examination, we find that all the edifice 
of Christian faith has been delineated, and built up by the hand of 
the Almighty, we must stop before its unsearchable mysteries, and 
adore its divine Architect. We are not permitted to lay rashly our 
hand upon the work of his hands. Therefore, " If any man shall 
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are 
written in this book ; and if any man shall take away from the 
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part 
out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things 
which are written in this book" (Deut. 4:2; Prov. 30 : 5, 6 ; 
Matt. 15 : 3-14) ; for he rejects the mysterious work of our 
Redeemer; he chooses rather to remain in the natural state of the 
lost sons of Adam, and consequently, he can in no wise have his 
portion among the redeemed people of the Lord. 

These words of the prophet are still testified and ratified by the 
Lord, saying: " Surely I come quickly;" and the prophet adds: 
" Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus :" It is the desire and expec- 
tation of thy ransomed people : Come, make no tarrying. 

The prophecy closes with the apostolic blessing : " The grace of 
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." It is given in the name 
of Jesus ; because he is the seed of Abraham, in which shall all 
the nations of the earth be blessed, and because he is the channel 
through which we may obtain mercy and peace with God. For 
being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto 
all them that obey him ; and he is able to save them to the utter- 
most, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make 
intercession for them. Let us look unto him, and be saved ; for he 
is our God and Redeemer, and the Lord our righteousness. He 
will surely come quickly. Let us watch, therefore, that we may be 
found having the wedding garment to meet him at his coming, and 
go in with him to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He is at our 
door and knocks. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, — make his 



COMMENTARY. 243 

paths straight. Come out of Babylon. Return, every one from your 
wicked way, for, " Blessed are they that do his commandments, 
that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sor- 
cerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and who- 
soever loveth and maketh a lie." But in the Lord, shall all the 
seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. Let us, then, say with 
the Spirit and the bride, " Come;" and with the prophet, "Amen. 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 



CONCLUSION. 

" If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." — 2 Col. 4 : 3. 

In casting a glance upon the historical events, foretold under 
the emblematic language of this prophecy, we find that, under the 
symbols of the. seven letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor, 
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and 
Laodicea, a general picture of the state of the Church has been 
drawn, as upon a large canvas, upon which all the events, were 
to be represented (chapter 1, 2, 3). 

The prophet, having given us the synopsis of seven different 
ages, or states of the Church, introduced us into the court of the 
great king of heaven and earth, surrounded by millions of saints 
and angels, who sang his praises and glory. Out of his throne pro- 
ceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices, which are the 
emblems of the political storms, by which the kingdoms of the 
earth, which are before his throne as a sea of glass, shall be broken 
as potters' vessels. He held, in his right hand, a book written on 
both sides, and sealed with seven seals. As no man, nor any angel, 
was found worthy to open the book, and to look thereon, it was de- 
clared that the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, had 
prevailed to open the book and to loose its seals. Therefore, he 
took the book ; and millions of saints and angels united to sing the 
praises and glory of the Lamb that was slain, and applauded the 
power which was conferred upon him (chapter 4, 5). 

At the opening of the first seal, Jesus, sitting on a white horse, 
and having the emblems of his victories over his enemies, went 
forth conquering and to conquer. At the opening of the three fol- 
lowing seals, there appeared three horsemen, representing under 
their respective emblems, the massacre of the Jews, and the Roman 
civil wars, the famine and pestilence, which ravaged, by turns, the 
Roman Empire, to avenge the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. 



244 COMMENTARY. 

Christians were accused to be the cause of these awful plagues, and 
to have burnt the palace of Diocletian at Nicoinedia ; therefore, the 
tenth persecution, called the era of martyrs, was decreed, and it 
continued ten years ; and so, at the opening of the fifth seal, the 
souls of the martyrs were heard crying to the Lord for deliverance. 
Their avenger came, at the opening of the sixth seal ; and the sup- 
porters of paganism, Maxentius and Licinius, its priests, augurs, 
and pontiffs, were destroyed by the victorious armies of Constantine. 
The pagan gods fell unto the earth, and were no longer gods; and 
Christianity became the religion of the Empire (chapter 6). 

A new state of things is now at hand. The peace which the 
Church enjoyed from the reign of Constantine to the death of 
Theodosius, is represented under the symbols of four angels, stand- 
ing on the four corners of the earth, and holding the four winds of 
the earth ; to wit, the armies of Alaric, Genseric, Attila, and 
Odoacer, that they should not invade the Empire, till a number of 
servants of God should be sealed, to preserve the evangelical doc- 
trines, during the woeful ages which were at hand, and to transmit 
them to the following generations. And, as these servants of God 
were to be trodden under foot and slain by the Gentiles, during 
1260 years, the prophet shows us, on the other side of the picture, 
the same servants, glorified, before the throne of God, for having 
come conquerors out of great persecutions, and having washed their 
robes in the blood of the Lamb (chapter 7). 

Christianity having been proclaimed the religion of the Empire, 
the angel of the Church in Pergamos (church exalted), received a 
golden censer ) and much incense was given unto him, that he 
should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar 
(Jesus Christ) which was before the throne. But the angel, the 
Bishop of Rome, at the head of the bishops, took the censer, and 
filled it with the fire of the altar (emblem of the wrath of God for 
the idolatrous worship which was then introduced into the Church), 
and cast it into the earth ; and consequently there were voices and 
thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake, which are the 
emblems of the invasions of the barbarians, under Alaric, Genseric, 
Attila, and Odoacer, who, at the sounding of the first four trumpets, 
destroyed the Roman Empire (chapter 8). 

The destruction of the Roman Empire is called " bottomless 
pit." The key of it was given to a fallen angel, namely, to Boni- 
face III., who opened it, at the sounding of the fifth angel j and 
out of the ruins of the empire, he formed the woeful papal empire, 
out of which arose the Dark Ages, which were like the smoke of a 
great furnace, by which the sun and the air were darkened. And, 
out of the smoke of the pit, from which arose the papal empire, God, 



COMMENTARY. 245 

in his wrath, sent the Saracens, like swarms of locusts, to torment, 
during 150 years, his unfaithful churches. As the worship of im- 
ages had been sanctioned, by the eastern churches, in a council at 
Constantinople, the Lord raised up and prepared the Moslem's 
Empire, to destroy, in his appointed time, these apostate churches 
and Constantinople, at the sounding of the sixth trumpet (chapter 9). 

In wrath God remembers mercy. The Lord appears, as after 
the flood, with the emblems of his power and mercy. He has in 
his hand a little book open, the Bible unchained, the emblem of 
Reformation. He set his right foot upon the civil powers, and his 
left, on the papal power, to show that the thunders of their ana- 
themas shall be powerless against the new work of regeneration which 
he was ready to perform. The little book, sweet as honey in the 
mouth, was bitter in the belly, showing, on one side, the delights 
which flow from the word of God; and, on the other, the persecu- 
tions, by which the Reformation would be opposed. The course of 
events is here broken off, in order to resume the prophecy from the 
overthrow of the Roman Empire by the barbarians, to show the 
origin of these persecutions, and the cause for which new plagues are 
again to be inflicted upon the kingdoms of the earth (chapter 10). 

The overthrow of the Roman Empire was caused by the apostacy 
of the western churches ; therefore those who profess to be Chris- 
tians, are examined and judged by the word of God. Those only 
who worship, at the altar in the temple of God, according to the 
plan of salvation, are truly servants of God ; the others are but 
nominal Christians, worshipping, without the temple, with the 
Gentiles, and they shall tread under foot the true church, during 
1260 years. When the two witnesses — the Albigenses and 
Waldenses, as primitive Christians, and the Protestants, as re- 
formed from popery, shall have finished their testimony, the popish 
kingdoms shall make war against them, and kill them, at the re- 
vocation of the Edict of Nantes, under Louis XIV., during three 
years and a half. But then, the martyrs of the Lord shall arise, 
and, with the young Prince of Orange, they shall ascend, in 1688, 
to the throne of England. Immediately after this victory of the 
witnesses, the French revolution, which is the third woe, is an- 
nounced at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, as to show that 
the consequences of this revolution shall cause the final triumph of 
the Church, which, from this time, shall enjoy the liberty of 
worship (chapter 11). 

Satan, the master of the Roman Empire, was the author of these 
persecutions. He was watching the Church, to destroy her chil- 
dren, as soon as they were born, as he had caused the death of 
Jesus himself. He corrupted the ministers of the gospel of the 

22 



246 C O M M E N T A R Y. 

Western Empire, and cast them to the earth, making them 
worshippers of idols and of worldly grandeur. His supporters, 
Maxentius and Licinius, having been overcome by Constantine, he 
was cast out of his temples, with his gods, and having great wrath, 
he persecuted the Church, and cast out of his mouth (religion) 
barbarians, as a flood, to destroy both the Church and the Empire. 
But the fallen ministers, the earthly church opened her pale, 
baptized these barbarians, gave them saints instead of their idols j 
and so the Christian name was safe; for, under this shadow of 
Christianity, which the barbarians had adopted, true Christians 
were permitted to worship God, as in a wilderness. The stratagem 
of Satan having failed, he invented and performed the following 
masterpiece (chapter 12). 

He raised up the Roman Empire out of its ruins. For that, he 
formed ten new kingdoms, to which he gave a religion boasting of 
great things, and speaking blasphemies against God, and against 
his Church. The state and the idolatrous church being united 
together, they made war with the true worshippers : hence arose 
the destructive wars, by which these kingdoms were desolated. 
Again, he formed another kingdom, whose chief, diverse from the 
first, had two powers, like Jesus Christ, a spiritual and a temporal 
power, — but he spoke as a devil. He had power over the first 
kings, and he exercised their authority in their own kingdoms. He 
displayed so wonderful a power, that all the inhabitants of the 
earth were deceived by his wonders ; and that, by his contrivances, 
they formed a new pagan empire, in imitation of the idolatrous 
Roman Empire, which had been destroyed by Constantine. Not 
only he claimed for himself the liberty of speaking, and teaching 
his arrogant and idolatrous religion ; but also he caused to kill every 
one who refused to obey him, and to profess his devilish religion. 
The name of the empire, in which such a masterpiece of Satan has 
been enforced, is the Latin Empire (chapter 13). 

Now, the prophet, having explained how it was that the witnesses 
were persecuted and slain for the word of God, resumes the course 
of events from the tenth chapter, and shows us, on the Mount Zion 
with the Lamb, the servants of God, who were sealed, in the seventh 
chapter, giving the hand of fellowship to the churches, reformed 
from popery. At the same time, the angel of the Reformation, 
flies throughout the empire, having the everlasting gospel, to preach 
it to the papists, and proclaiming the fall of the mystic Babylon, and 
the judgments of God, which await the unconverted papists. The 
slaughter of Protestants, at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
is alluded to; and, as Louis XIV. said that there were Protestants 
no longer, the prophet, challenging him, declares that blessed are the 
papists who shall turn to the Lord ; for the persecutors shall hence- 



COMMENTARY. 247 

forth be unable to make war against them. From this time, popery 
shall decay, and come to perdition. The calamities, by which the 
papal kingdoms must be destroyed, at the sounding of the seventh 
trumpet, are divided into the harvest, and into the vintage of the 
wrath of God (chapter 14). 

The fifteenth chapter, is but a sublime and solemn preparation 
for the events which take place in the following chapter. At the 
pouring out of the first five vials, the people who had been trained 
under the papal delusion, were seized with a spirit of infidelity, and 
of anarchy, — the combined fleets of France and Spain, were de- 
stroyed by Admiral Nelson, — the bloody battles of Montenotte, 
and of Marengo, avenged the blood of the Waldenses, — Napoleon 
received his despotic power to burn, with the fire of wars, the im- 
penitent popish subjects, — and the French army, having been 
destroyed in Russia, France was twice invaded by millions of 
soldiers of the allied powers, by the Jesuits, and by the ancient 
regime. The sixth vial was poured out upon the Turkish Empire, 
which became more and more weak, from the time of the Greek 
independence. From the same epoch, the Satanic agents, sup- 
porters of tyranny and of popish roguery, represented as three un- 
clean spirits, coming out of the mouth of the three infernal powers, 
go forth to the kings of the earth, to gather them to the battle of 
that great day of God Almighty, which shall be fought, at the 
pouring out of the seventh vial (chapter 16). 

We have, in the seventeenth chapter, the description of the 
great whore, which has corrupted Christianity, and killed the 
saints of the Lord; a lamentation over her fall and her destruc- 
tion, is contained in the eighteenth; and, in the nineteenth, the 
great battle of Armageddon, called the vintage and the coming of 
the Lord, is fought by the armies of the Lord. The kings of the 
earth are overcome, and cast alive with the false prophet, into a 
lake of fire burning with brimstone (chapters 17, 18, 19). 

The kingdoms of the earth, are now given to the saints of the 
Lord, and Satan is bound. The peace and happiness, which Chris- 
tians enjoy under Christian rulers, are called, a the first resurrec- 
tion f because they are the foretaste of the delights of peace, 
freedom, and happiness, which they shall enjoy forever, after the 
resurrection of the bodies, when they shall be clothed with immor- 
tality, to enter into the everlasting kingdom and inhabit eternity. 
Besides that, they are free from the bondage and enmity of Satan. 
The final judgment follows the destruction of the last enemies of 
the people of God : Satan, and death, and the sepulchre are cast 
into a lake of fire, which is the second death (chapter 20). 

God is now in the midst of his people. A new earth, in which 
there is neither tyranny, nor idolatrous religion, nor persecution, 



248 COMMENTARY. 

succeeds, at the first resurrection, to the former, which was groan- 
ing under the thraldom of the infernal power of Satan; and this 
new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness, shall be throughout 
eternity the heaven inhabited by the righteous ; for, where God is 
there heaven is. But who shall be admitted into this everlast- 
ing kingdom ? The true Church of the Lamb, to which his 
righteousness has been imputed ; and whose members, tried by the 
word of God, as it was announced by the twelve apostles, have 
built upon the true foundation, and have entered in through the 
gate, Jesus Christ, who is also the foundation and the pearl of great 
price, which they have bought, in forsaking all they possessed for 
the love of Christ. These alone shall be partakers of the blessings 
of the kingdom, and shall have right to regeneration, which is the 
tree of life, which grows wheresoever the healing waters of 
the gospel spread. The promises, made in this prophecy, to the 
saints, and the plagues by which the unbelievers are threatened to 
be destroyed, are certain, and duly approved and certified by Jesus, 
the author of the prophecy, by the prophet, and by the witnesses, 
the Spirit and the Bride, inviting sinners to come, and to take the 
waters of life freely (chapter 21, 22). 

Such is the picture which the prophet gives us, in this wonder- 
ful book, of the principal events, which have been accomplished 
during eighteen centuries, and of those which shall be accomplished 
to the end of time. Its symbolic language has been faithfully ex- 
plained, according to the nature, use, and functions of its emblems, 
which become clear, when they are confronted with the events 
which they describe. The same event is often represented under 
two pictures, the one as a prediction of the event, the other, as its 
fulfilment; and then, there is always some word in the latter, 
which points to the former. All the events, thus explained, are 
connected together, from the first to the last chapter; and they are 
described, in the prophecy, with the same order in which they 
are related by the most correct historians. There is, then, no 
other explanation of this book, except for secondary matters, which 
may be understood according to the different opinions of men. 
You can judge, at present, reader, whether Newton or Voltaire, 
had an erroneous judgment upon a principle received without ex- 
amination. " Who hath declared this from ancient time ? Who 
hath told it from that time ? Have not I the Lord ? And there 
is no God else beside me ; a just God, and a Saviour ; there is none 
beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth : for I am God, and there is none else." 

THE END. 



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THE BEST & MOST COMPLETE FAMILY COMMENTARY. 
The Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Bible; 

CONTAINING 

THE TEXT ACCORDING TO THE AUTHORIZED VERSION, 

BCOTT'S MARGINAL REFERENCES; MATTHEW HENRY'S COMMENTARY, 

CONDENSED, BUT RETAINING EVERY USEFUL THOUGHT ,** THE 

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS OF REV. THOMAS SCOTT, D. D. ; 

WITH EXTENSIVE 

EXPLANATORY, CRITICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL NOTES, 

Selected from Scott, Doddridge, Gill, Adam Clarke, Patrick, Poole, Lowth, 
Burder, Harmer, Calmet, Rosenmueller, Bloomiield, Stuart, Bush, Dwight, 
and many other writers on the Scriptures. 

The whole designed to be a digest and combination of the advantages of 
the best Bible Commentaries, and embracing nearly all that is valuable in 

HENEY, SCOTT, AND DODDRIDGE. 

Conveniently arranged for family and private reading, and, at the same time, 
particularly adapted to the wants of Sabbath- School Teachers and Bible 
Classes ; with numerous useful tables, and a neatly engraved Family Record. 

Edited by Eev. William Jenks, D. D. ; 

PASTOR OF GREEN STREET CHURCH, BOSTON. 

Embellished with five portraits, and other elegant engravings, from ste& 
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NOTICES AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

OF THE 

COMPREHENSIVE COMMENTARY. 

The Publishers select the following from the testimonials they have received 
as to the value of the work : 

We, the subscribers, having examined the Comprehensive Commentary, issued from the press of 
Messrs. L., G. <fc Co., and highly approving its character, would cheerfully and confidently recom- 
mend it as containing more matter and more advantages than any other with which we are 
acquainted ; and considering the expense incurred, and the excellent manner of its mechanical 
execution, we believe it to be one of the cheapest works ever issued from the press. We hope the 
publishers will be sustained by a liberal patronage, in their expensive and useful undertaking. We 
should be pleased to learn that every family in the United States had procured a copy. 

B. B. WISN ER, D. D., Secretary of Am. Board of Com. for For. Missions. 

WM. COGSWELL, D. D., « " Education Society. 

JOHN CODMAN, D. D., Pastor of Congregational Church, Dorchester. 

Rev. HUBBARD WINSLOW, " M Bowdoin street, Dorchester. 

Rev. SEW ALL HARDING, Pastor of T. C. Church, Waltham. 

Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, Pastor of Congregational Church, South Boston. 

GARDINER SPRING, D. D., Pastor of Presbyterian Church, New York city. 

CYRUS MASON, D. D., " - " " ■ " 

THOS. M'AULEY, D. D., " " ** " " 

JOHN WOODBRIDGE, D. D., " " " mm 

THOS. DEWITT, D. D., M Dutch Ref. u • 

E. W. BALDWIN, D. D., u u ■ ' ■ 

Rev. J. M. M'KREBS, " Presbyterian * " . • ■ 

Rev. ERSKINE MASON, * •* " * • 

Rev. J. S. SPENCER, M Brooklyn. 

EZRA STILES ELY, D. D., Stated Clerk of Gen. Assem. of Presbyterian Church. 

JOHN M'DOWELL, D. D., Permanent «« u _ « 

JOHN BRECKENRIDGE, CoiTespondmg Secretary of Assembly's Board of Education 

SAMUEL B. WYLIE, D. D., Pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. 

N. LORD, D. D., President of Dartmouth College. 

JOSHUA BATES, D. D., President of Middlebury College. 

H HUMPHREY, D. D., " Amherst College. 

E. D. GRIFFIN, D. D., " Williainstown College. 

J. W r HEELER, D. D., " University of Vermont, at Burlington. 

J. M. MATTHEWS, D. D., . « New York City University. 

GEORGE E. PIERCE, D. D. t M Western Reserve College, Ohio. 

Rev. Dr. BROWN, M Jefferson College, Penn. 

LEONARD WOODS, D. D., Professor of Theology, Andover Seminary. 

THOS. H. SKINNER, D. D., " Sac. Rhet. 

Rev. RALPH EMERSON, M Eccl. Hist. 

Rev. JOEL PARKER, Pastor of Presbyterian Church, New Orleans. 

JOEL HAWES, D. D., u Congregational Church, Hartford, Cona. 

N. S. S. BEAMAN, D. D., " Presbytenan Church, Troy, N. Y. 

MARK TUCKER, D. D., " H " " '"'"" 

Rev. E. N. KTRK, « • « Albany, N. Y. 

Rev. E. B. EDWARDS, Editor of Quarterly Observer. 

Rev. STEPHEN MASON, Pastor First Congregational Church, Nantucket. 

Rev, ORIN FOWLER, « " u " FaU River. 

GEORGE W. BETHUNE, D. D., Pastor of the First Reformed Dutch Church, Philadft. 

Rev. LYMAN BEECKER, D. D., Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Rev. C. D. MALLORY, Pastor Baptist Church, Augusta, Ga. 

Rev. S. M. NOEL, " u u Frankfort, Ky. 



From the Professors at Princeton Theological Seminary. 
The Comprehensive Commentary contains the whole of Henry's Exposition in a condensed form, 
Scott's Practical Observations and Marginal References, and a large number of very valuable philo- 
logical and critical notes, selected from various authors. The work appears to be executed witn 
judgment, fidelity, and care ; and will furnish a rich treasure of scriptural knowledge to the 
Biblical student, and to the teachers of Sabbath-Schools and Bible Classes. 

A. ALEXANDER, D. D. 
SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 
CHARLES HODGE, D. D 



LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

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OR HENRY'S, SCOTT'S, CLARKE'S, GILL'S, OR OTHER COMMENTARIES: 

CONTAINING 

1. Anew, full, and complete Concordance; 

Illustrated with monumental, traditional, and oriental engravings, founded on Butterworth's, with 
Cruden's definitions ; forming;, it is believed, on many accounts, a more valuable work than either 
Butterworth, Cruden, or any other similar book in the language. 

The value of a Concordance is now generally understood; and those who have used one, con- 
sider it indispensable in connection with the Bible. 

2. A Guide to the Reading and Study of the Bible ; 

being Carpenter's valuable Biblical Companion, lately published in London, containing a complete 
history of the Bible, and forming a most excellent introduction to its study. It embraces the evi- 
dences of Christianity, Jewish antiquities, manners, customs, arts, natural history, <fcc., of the Bible, 
with notes and engravings added. 

3. Complete Biographies of Henry, by Williams; Scott, by his 
son; Doddridge, by Ortonj 

with sketches of the lives and characters, and notices of the works, of the writers on the Scriptures 
who are quoted in the Commentary, living and dead, American and foreign. 

This part of the volume not only affords a large quantity of interesting and useful reading for 
pious families, but will also be a source of gratification to all those who are in the habit of consult- 
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characters of those whose opinions he seeks. Appended to this part, will be a 

BIBLIOTHECA BIBLICA, 

or list of the best works on the Bible, of all kinds, arranged under their appropriate heads. 

4. A complete Index of the Matter contained in the Bible Text. 
5. A Symbolical Dictionary. 

A very comprehensive and valuable Dictionary of Scripture Symbols, (occupying about fifty-six 
closely printed pages,) by Thomas Wemyss, (author of "Biblical Gleanings," <fec.) Comprising 
Daubuz, Lancaster, Hutcheson, <fcc. 

6. The Work contains several other Articles, 

Indexes, Tables, <fcc. <fec., and is, 

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identifying, as far as tradition, &c., go, the original sites, drawn on the spot by F. Catherwood, of 
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The whole forms a desirable and necessary fund of instruction for the use not only of clergymen 
and Sabbath-school teachers, but also for families. When the great amount of matter it must 
contain is considered, it will be deemed exceedingly cheap. 

" I have examined ' The Companion to the Bible,' and have been surprised to find so much inform- 
ation introduced into a volume of so moderate a size. It contains a library of sacred knowledge 
and criticism. It will be useful to ministers who own large libraries, and cannot fail to be an 
invaluable help to every reader of the Bible." HENRY MORRIS, 

Pastor of Congregational Church, Vermont. 

The above work can be had in several styles of binding. Price varying 
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EMBODYING- ALL THAT IS VALUABLE IN THE WORKS OF 

ROBERTS, HARDER, BURDER, PA2TON, CHANDLER, 

And the most celebrated oriental travellers. Embracing also the subject of the Fulfilment of 

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ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS LANDSCAPE ENGRAVINGS, 

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Edited by Rev. George Bush, 

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itself, not only to professed Christians of all denominations, but also to the general reader. The 
arrangement of the texts illustrated with the notes, in the order of the chapters and verses of the 
authorized version of the Bible, will render it convenient for reference to particular passages ; 
while the copious Index at the end will at once enable the reader to turn to every subject discussed 
in the volume. 

This volume is not designed to take the place of Commentaries, but is a distinct department of biblical 
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to procure such as should embellish the work, and, at the same time, illustrate the text. Objec- 
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tions of fancy and the imagination, often unlike nature, and frequently conveying false impressions, 
eannot be urged against the pictorial illustrations of this volume. Here the fine arts are made 
subservient to utility, the landscape views being, without an exception, matter-of-fact views of places 
mentioned in Scripture, as they appear at the present day ; thus in many instances exhibiting, in the 
most forcible manner, to the eye, the strict and literal fulfilment of the remarkable prophecies ; " the 
present ruined and desolate condition of the cities of Babylon, Nineveh, Selah, <fcc., and the coun- 
tries of Edom and Egypt, are astonishing examples, and so completely exemplify, in the most 
minute particulars, every thing which was foretold of them in tha height of their prosperity, that 
no better desenption can now be given of them than a simple quotation from a chapter and versa 
of the Bible written nearly two or three thousand years ago." The publishers are enabled to select 
from several collections lately published in London, the proprietor of one of which says that " seve- 
ral distinguished travellers have afforded him the use of nearly Three Hundred Original Sketches" 
of Scripture places, made upon the spot. " The land of Palestine, it is well known, abounds in 
scenes of the most picturesque beauty. Syria comprehends the snowy heights of Lebanon, and tht 
majestic ruins of Tadrnor and Baal bee." 
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language. 

The value of a Concordance is now generally understood ; and thosa who have used one, con- 
sider it indisjveDsable in connection with the Bible. Some of the many advantages the Illustrated 
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It is printed on fine white paper, with beautiful large type. 

Price One Dollar. 
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LIPPINCOTT'S EDITION OF 

BAOSTEB'S COMPREHENSIVE BIBLE. 

In order to develope the peculiar nature of the Comprehensive Bible, it will only be necessary 
to embrace its more prominent features. 

1st. The SACRED TEXT is that of the Authorized Version, and is printed from the edition cor- 
rected and improved by Dr. Blaney, which, from its accuracy, is considered the standard edition, 

2d. The VARIOUS READINGS are faithfully printed from the edition of Dr. Blaney, inclusive 
of the translation of the proper names, without the addition or diminution of one. 

3d. In the CHRONOLOGY, great care has been taken to fix the date of the particular transac- 
tions, which has seldom been done with any degree of exactness in any former edition of the Bible. 

4th. The NOTES are exclusively philological and explanatory, and are not tinctured with senti- 
ments of any sect or party. They are selected from the most eminent Biblical critics and com- 
mentators. 

It is hoped that this edition of the Holy Bible will be found to contain the essence of Biblical 
research and criticism, that lies dispersed through an immense number of volumes. 

Such is the nature and design of this edition of the Sacred Volume, which, from the various 
objects it embraces, the freedom of its pages from all sectarian peculiarities, and the beauty, plain- 
ness, and correctness of the typography, that it cannot fail of proving acceptable and useful to 
Christians of every denomination. 

In addition to the usual references to parallel passages, which are quite full and numerous, the 
student has all the marginal readings, together with a rich selection of Philological, Critical, Histo- 
rical, Geographical, and other valuable notes and remarks, which explain and illustrate the sacred 
text. Besides the general introduction, containing valuable essays on the genuineness, authenticity, 
and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and other topics of interest, there are introductory and con- 
cluding remarks to each book — a table of the contents of the Bible, by which the different portions 
are so arranged as to read in an historical order. 

Arranged at the top of each page is the period in which the prominent events of sacred history 
took place. The calculations are made for the year of the world before and after Christ, Julian 
Penod, the year of the Olympiad, the year of the building of Rome, and other notations of time. 
At the close is inserted a Chronological Index of the Bible, according to the computation of Arch- 
bishop Ussher. Also, a full and valuable index of the subjects contained in the Old and New Testa- 
ments, with a careful analysis and arrangement of texts under their appropriate subjects. 

Mr. Greenfield, the editor of this work, and for some time previous to his death the superintend- 
ent of the editorial department of the British and Foreign Bible Society, was a most extraordinary 
man. In editing the Comprehensive Bible, his varied and extensive learning was called into suc- 
cessful exercise, and appears in happy combination with sincere piety and a sound judgment. The 
Editor of tho Christian Observer, alluding to this work, in an obituary notice of its author, speaks 
of it as a work of " prodigious labour and research, at once exhibiting his varied talents and pro- 
found erudition." 



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OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

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The Errors of Modern Infidelity Illustrated and Refuted. 

BY 3. M. SOK^IUCKER, A. BflL 

In one volume, 12rno. ; cloth. Just published. 

We cannot but regard this work, in whatever light we view it in reference to its design, as on« 
of the most masterly productions of the age, and fitted to uproot one of the most fondly cherished 
and dangerous of all ancient or modern errors. God must bless such a work, armed with his own 
truth, and doing fierce and successful battle against black infidelity, which would bring His Majesty 
and Word down to the tribunal of human reason, for condemnation and annihilation.— 41). Spectator 



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i Chrgq nf Slramta: 

CONSISTING- OF 

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BY JOSEPH BELCHER, D.D., 
Editor of "The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller," "Robert Hall," &c. 

" This very interesting: and instructive collection of pleasing: and solemn remembrances of many 
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JOSEPHUS'S (FLAFIUS) WORKS, 

FAMILY EDITION. 
BY THE LATE WXIaLXAIVX WHI3TON, A. TJ1. 
FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION, COMPLETE. 
One olume, beautifully illustrated with Steel Plates, and the only readable edition 
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As a matter of course, every family in our co'uitry has a copy of the Holy Bible ; and as the pre- 
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All those who wish to possess a beautiful and correct copy of this valuable work, would do well 
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Also, the above work in two volumes. 

BURDER'S VILLAGE SEMOM; 

Or, 101 Plain and Short Discourses on the Principal Doctrines of the Gospel. 

INTENDED FOR THE USE OF FAMILIES, SUNDAY-SCHOOLS, OR COMPANIES ASSEM- 
BLED FOR RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN COUNTRY VILLAGES. 

BY GEORGE EURDER. 
To which is added to each Sermon, a Short Prayer, with some General Prayers for Familie* 
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COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO. 
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converting many individuals, but also of introducing the Gospel into districts, and even into parish 
churches, where before it was comparatively unknown." 
M This work fully deserves the immortality it has attained." 

This is a fine library edition of this invaluable work ; and when we say that it should be found in 
the possession of every family, we only reiterate the sentiments and sincere wishes of -all who take 
a deep interest in the eternal welfare of mankind. 

FAMILY PRAYERS AND HYMNS, 

ADAPTED TO FAMILY WORSHIP, 
AND 

TABLES FOR THE REGULAR READING OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

By Rev. S. C. Winchester, A. M., 

Late Pastor of the Sixth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia; and the Presbyterian Church as 

Natchez, Miss. 

One volume, 12 mo. 



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SPLENDID LIBRARY EDITIONS. 



ILLUSTRATED STANDARD POETS. 

ELEGANTLY PRINTED, ON FINE PAPER, AND UNIFORM IN SIZE AND 

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BYRON'S WORKS. 

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO. 

INCLUDING ALL HIS SUPPRESSED AND ATTRIBUTED POEMS ; WITH SIX BEAUTIFUL 

ENGRAVINGS. 

This edition has been carefully compared with the recent London edition of Mr. Murray, and 
made complete by the addition of more than fifty pages of poems heretofore unpublished in Eng- 
land. Among these there are a number that have never appeared in any American edition ; and 
the publishers believe they are warranted in saying that this is Vie most complete edition of Lord 
Byron's Poetical Works ever published in the United States. 



Complete in one volume, octavo ; with seven beautiful Engravings. 

This is a new and complete edition, with a splendid engraved likeness of Mrs. Hemans, on steeL. 
and contains all the Poems in the last London and American editions. With a Critical Preface by 
Mr. Thatcher, of Boston. 

"As no work in the English language can be commended with more confidence, it will argue bad 
taste in a female in this country to be without a complete edition of the writings of one who was 
an honour to her sex and to humanity, and whose productions, from first to last, contain no syllable 
calculated to call a blush to the cheek of modesty and virtue. There is, moreover, in Mrs. Hemans's 
poetry, a moral purity and a religious feeling which commend it, inan especial manner, to the dis- 
criminating reader. No parent or guardian will be under the necessity^ imposing restrictions 
with regard to the free perusal of every production emanating from this gifted woman. There 
breathes throughout the whole a most eminent exemption from impropriety of thought or diction; 
and there is at times a Derisiveness of tone, a winning sadness in her more serious compositions, 
which tells of a soul which has been lifted from the contemplation of terrestrial things, to divine 
communings with beings of a purer world." 



MILTON, YOUNG, GRAY, BEATT1E, AND COLLINS'S 
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COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO. 
WITH SIX BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS. 



(Cntttfttr unit $I;nmrait'H $tm rati ^nriintl Wmh. 

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO. 

deluding two hundred and fifty Letters, and sundry Poems of Cowper, never before published is» 

this country ; and of Thomson a new and interesting Memoir, and upwards of twenty 

new Poems, for the first time printed from his own Manuscripts, taken from 

a late Edition of the Aldine Poets, now publishing in London; 

WITH SEVEN BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS. 
The distinguished Professor Silliman, speaking of this edition, observes : " I am as much gratiflea 
by the elegance and fine taste of your edition, as by the noble tribute of genius and moral aicel- 
lence which these delightful authors have left for all future generations ; and Cov/per, espooiaily, 
is not less conspicuous as a true Christian, moralist and teacher, than as a poet of great power asad 
exquisite taste." 

9 



LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

THE POETICAL WORKS OF ROGERS, CAMPBELL, MONTGOMERY, 
LAMB, AND KIRKE WHITE. 

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO. 

WITH SIX BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS. 

The beauty, correctness, and convenience of this favourite edition of these standard authors are 

so well known, that it is scarcely necessary to add a word m its favour. It is only necessary lo say, 

that the publishers have now issued an illustrated edition, which greatly enhances its former value. 

The engravings are excellent and well selected. It is the best library edition extant. 



CRABBE, HEBER, AND POLLOK'S POETICAL WORKS. 

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, OCTAVO. 
~ WITH SIX BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS. 

A writer in the Boston Traveller holds the following language with reference to these valuable 
editions : — 

" Mr. Editor : — I wish, without any idea of puffing, to say a word or two upon the • Library of 
English Poets' that is now published at Philadelphia, by Lippincott, Grambo <k Co. It is certainly, 
taking into consideration the elegant manner in which it is printed, and the reasonable price at 
which it is afforded to purchasers, the best edition of the modern British Poets that has ever been 
published in this country. Each volume is an octavo of about 500 pages, double columns, steieo- 
typed. and accompanied with fine engravings and biographical sketches ; and most of them are 
reprinted from Galignani's French edition. As to its value, we need only mention that it contains 
the entire works of Montgomery, Gray, Beattie, Collins, Byron, Cowper, Thomson, Milton, Young, 
Rogers, Campbell, Lamb, Hemans, Heber, Kirke White, Crabbe, the Miscellaneous Works of Gold- 
smith, and other masters of the lyre. The publishers are doing a great service by their publication, 
and their volumes are almost in as great demand as the fashionable novels of the day ; and th»y 
deserve to be so : for they are certainly printed in a style superior to that in which we have before 
had the works of the English Poets." 

No library can be considered complete without a copy of the above beautiful and cheap editions 
of the English Poets ; and persons ordering all or any of them, will please say Lippincott, Grambo 
k. Co.'s illustrated editions. 



A COMPLETE 

lirftonart] of ^firftml dSuioMtoux 

COMPRISING THE MOST EXCELLENT AND APPROPRIATE PASSAGES IN 
THE OLD BRITISH POETS; WITH CHOICE AND COPIOUS SELEC- 
TIONS FROM THE BEST MODERN BRITISH AND 
AMERICAN POETS. • 
EDITED BY SARAH JOSEPHA HALS. 
As nightingales do upon glow-worms feed, 
So poets live upon the living light 
Of Nature and of Beauty. 

Bailey's Festus. 

Beautifully illustrated with Engravings. In one super-royal octavo volume, in various 

bindings. 

The publishers extract, from the many highly complimentary notices of the above valuable and 
beautiful work, the following : 

" We have at last a volume of Poetical Quotations worthy of the name. It contains nearly six 
hundred octavo pages, carefully and tastefully selected from all the home and foreign authors of 
celebrity. It is invaluable to a writer, while to the ordinary reader it presents every subject at a 
glance." — Gcdei/s Lady's Book. 

" The plan or idea of Mrs. Hale's work is felicitous. It is one for which her fine taste, her orderly 
Uabitsof mind, and her long occupation with literature, has given her peculiar facilities; and tho- 
roughly has she accomplished her task in the work before us." — Sartain's Magazine. 

* It is a choice collection of poetical extracts from every English and American author werth 
perusing, from the days of Chaucer to the present time." -Washington Union. 

" There is nothing negative about this work ; it is positively good."— Evening Bulletin. 

10 



LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

THE DIAMOND EDITION OF BYRON. 



THE POETICAL WORKS OF LOUD BYRON, 

WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. 

COMPLETE IN ONE NEAT DUODECIMO VOLUME, WITH STEEL PLATES. 

The type ofthis edition is so perfect, and it is printed with so much care, on fine white paper, 
that it can be read with as much ease as most of the larger editions. This work is to be had lb 
plain and superb binding, making a beautiful volume for a gift. 

" The Poetical Works of Lord Byron, complete in one volume : published b7 L, G. <k Co., Phila- 
delphia. We hazard nothing in saying that, take it altogether, this is the most elegant work ever 
issued from the American press. 

"'In a single volume, not larger than an ordinary duodecimo, the publishers have embraced the 
whole of Lord Byron's Poems, usually printed in ten or twelve volumes; and, what is more remark- 
able, have done it with a type so clear and distinct, that, notwithstanding its necessarily small size, 
it may be read with the utmost facility, even by failing eyes. The book is stereotyped ; and never 
have we seen a finer specimen of that art. Everything about it is perfect — the paper, the print- 
ing, the binding, all correspond with each other ; and it is embellished with two fine engravings, 
well worthy the companionship in which they are placed. 

'"This will make a beautiful Christmas present.' 

" We extract the above from Godey's Lady's Book. The notice itself, we are given to understand, 
is written by Mrs. Hale, 

" We have to add our commendation in favour of this beautiful volume, a copy of which has 
been sent us by the publishers. The admirers of the noble bard will feel obliged to the enterprise 
which has prompted the publishers to dare a competition with the numerous editions of his works 
already in circulation ; and we shall be surprised if this convenient travelling edition does not in a 
great degree supersede the use of the large octavo works, which have little advantage in size ana 
openness of type, and are much inferior in the qualities of portability and lightness." — Intelligencer. 



THE DIAMOND EDITION OF MOORE. 

(CORRESPONDING WITH BYRON.) 



THE POETICAL WORKS OF THOMAS MOORE, 

COLLECTED BY HIMSELF. 

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 

Tms work is published uniform with Byron, from the last London edition, and is the most com- 
plete printed in the country. 



THE DIAMOND EDITION OF SHAKSPEARE, 

(COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME,) 

ESSCXiUMlTa- -&> Sl&BTQlS OF HZS X.XFB. 

UNIFORM WITH BYRON AND MOORE. 
THE ABOVE WORKS CAN BE HAD IN SEVERAL VARIETIES OF BINDING. 

GOLDSMITH'S ANIMATED NATUEE. 

IN TWO VOLUMES, OCTAVO. 
BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH 335 PLATES. 

vttNTATNING A HISTORY OF THE EARTH, ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES; FORMING 
THE MOST COMPLETE NATURAL HISTORY EVER PUBLISHED. 

This is a work that should be in the library of every family, having been written by one of tfe© 
most talented authors in the English language. 

*• Goldsmith can never be made obsolete while delicate genius, exquisite feeling, fine invention, 
'he most harmonious metre, and the happiest diction, are at all valued." 

BIGLAND'S NATURAL HISTORY 

O* Animals, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, and Insects. Hlustrated with numerous and beautiful Eegra* 

ings. By JOHN BIGLAND, author of a " View of the World," " letters on 

Nniversal History," <fec. Complete in 1 vol.. 12nio. 

11 



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THE POWER AND PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



THE UNITED STATES; Its Power and Progress. 

BY GUILIiAUIVIE TELL FOTJSSIN, 

* LATE MINISTER OF TEE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES. 

FIRST AMERICAN, FROM THE THIRD PARIS EDITION. 
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY EDMOND L. DU BARRY, M. D., 

SURGEON U. S. NAVY. 

In one large octavo volume. 

SCHOOLCRAFT'S GREAT NATIONAL WORK ON THE INDIAN TRIBES QF 
THE UNITED STATES, 

WITH BEAUTIFUL AND ACCURATE COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS. 



HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION 

RESPECTING THE 

HISTORY, CONDITION AND PROSPECTS 

OP THE 

COLLECTED AND PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN 
AFFAIRS, PER ACT OF MARCH 3, 1847, $ 

BIT SZ227ZL1T H. SCHOOLCHiLPT, LL.B. 

ILLUSTRATED BY S. EASTMAN, Capt. TJ. S. A. 
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THE AMERICAN GARDENER'S CALENDAR, 

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Containing a complete account of all the work necessary to be done in the Kitchen Garden, Fruit 
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and Forcing Frames, for every month in the year ; with ample Practical Directions for performing 
the same. 

Also, general as well as minute instructions for laying out or erecting each and every of the above 
departments, according to modern taste and the most approved plans; the Ornamental Planting of 
Pleasure Grounds, in the ancient and modern style ; the cultivation of Thorn Quicks, and other 
plants suitable for Live Hedges, with the best methods of making them, <fec. To which are annexed 
catalogues of Kitchen Garden. Plants and Herbs; Aromatic, Pot, and Sweet Herbs; Medicinal 
Plants, and the most important Grapes, &c, used in rural economy; with the soil best adapted to 
their cultivation. Together with a copious Index to the body of the work. 

BY BERNARD M'MAHON. 

Tenth Edition, greatly improved. In one volume, octavo, 

THE USEFUL AND THE BEAUTIFUL; 

OB, DOMESTIC AND MOBAL DUTIES NECESSABY TO SOCIAL HAPPINESS, 

BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED. 

16mo. square cloth. Price 50 and 75 cents. 

12 



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THE FARMER'S AND PLANTER'S ENCYCLQP/EDIA. 



€\p faxmtfs ntti fUxtoti $ nnplnpoMa nf floral affairs. 

BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON. 
ADAPTED TO THE UNITED STATES BY GOUVERNEUR EMERSON. 

Illustrated by seventeen beautiful Engravings of Cattle, Horses, Sheep, the varieties of Wheal 
Barley, Oats, Grasses, the Weeds of Agriculture, <kc. ; besides numerous Engrav- 
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This standard work contains the latest and best information upon all subjects connected with 
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tobacco, rice, sugar, <kc. <kc. ; of horses and mules ; of cattle, with minute particulars relating to 
cheese and butter-making; of fowls, including a description of capon-making, with drawings of the 
instruments employed ; of bees, and the Russian and other systems of managing bees and con- 
tfructing hives. Long articles on the uses and preparation of bones, lime, guano, and all sorts of 
animal, mineral, and vegetable substances employed as manures. Descriptions of the most approved 
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shade trees, forest trees, and shrubs ; of weeds, and all kinds of flies, and destructive worms and 
fasects, and the best means of getting rid of them ; together with a thousand other matters relating 
o rural life, about which information is so constantly desired by all residents of the country. 
IN ONE LARGE OCTAVO VOLUME. 

MASON'S FARRIER-FARMERS' EDITION. 

Price, 62 cents. 4 



THE PRACTICAL FARRIER, FOR FARMERS: 

COMPRISING A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OP THE NOBLE AND USEFUL ANIMAL, 

THE HOFISE5 

WITH MODES OF MANAGEMENT IN ALL CASES, AND TREATMENT IN DISEASE. 
TO WHICH IS ADDED, 

A PRIZE ESSAY ON MULES » AND AN APPENDIX, 

Containing Recipes for Diseases of Horses, Oxen, Cows, Calves, Sheep, Dogs, Swine, <fcc. &e. 

BIT RI0EAEB I^ASO!^, 33*. J>., 

Formerly of Surry County, Virginia. 

In one volume, 12mo.; bound in cloth* gilt. 

MASON'S FARRIER AND STUD-BOOK-NEW EDITION. 



THE GENTLEMAN'S NEW POCKET FARRIER: 

COMPRISING A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE NOBLE AND USEFUL ANIMAL. 

THE HORSE; 

WITH MODES OF MANAGEMENT IN ALL CASES, AND TREATMENT IN DISEASE. 

BIT RICHARD MASON", M. D., 

Formerly of Surry County, Virginia. 

to which is added, A PRIZE ESSAY ON MULES ; and AN APPENDIX, containing Recipes tot 

t Diseases of Horses, Oxen, Cows, Calves, Sheep, Dogs, Swine, <kc. <fcc. ; with Annals 

of the Turf, American Stud-Book, Rules for Training, Racing, <fec 

WITH A SUPPLEMENT, 

Comprising an Essay on Domestic Animals, especially the Horse ; with Remarks on Treatment ana 

Breeding; together with Trotting and Racing Tables, showing the best time on record at one 

two, three and four mile heats ; Pedigrees of Winning Horses, since 1839, and of the raosl 

celebrated Stallions and Mares ; with usefal Calving and Lambing Tables. By 

J. S. SKINNER, Editor now of the Farmer's Library, New York, <fec. Ac 

b 13 



LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

HINDS'S FARRIERY AND_STUD-BOOK-NEW EDITION. 

farrTery, 

TAUGHT ON A NEW AND EASY PLAN: 

EEINS 

% €mim m tjif Wmmm irafr Milmlx nf iljs lnrsj; 

fith Instructions to the Shoeing Smith, Farrier, and Groom ; preceded by a Popular Description el 
the Animal Functions in Health, and how these are to be restored when disordered. 

BY JOHN HINDS, VETERINARY SURGEON. 

With considerable Additions and Improvements, particularly adapted to this country, 

BY THOMAS M. SMITH, 

Veterinary Surgeon, and Member of the London Veterinary Medical Society. 

WITH A SUPPLEMENT, BY J. S. SKINNER. 

The publishers have received numerous flattering notices of the great practical value of thes* 
works. The distinguished editor of the American Fanner, speaking of them, observes:—" W« 
cannot too highly recommend these books, and therefore advise every owner of a horse to obtain 
Ihem." 

" There are receipts in those books that show how Founder may be cured, and the traveller pur- 
sue his journey the next day, by giving a tablespoonful ofahim. This was got from Dr. P. Thornton, 
ofMontpelier, Rappahannock county, Virginia, as founded on his own observation in several cases. 

M The constant demand for Mason's and Hinds's Farrier has induced the publishers, Messrs. Lip- 
pincott Grambo <fc Co., to put forth new editions, with a • Supplement' of 100 pages, by J. S. Skinner, - 
Esq. We should have sought to render an acceptable service to our agricultural readers, by giving 
a chapter from the Supplement, 'On the Relations between Man and the Domestic Animals, espe- 
cially the Horse, and the Obligations they impose ;' or the one on ' The Form of Animals ;' but that 
either one of them would overrun the space here allotted to such subjects." 

" Lists of Medicines, and other articles which ought to be at hand about every training and livery 
stable, and every Farmer's and Breeder's establishment, will be found in these valuable works." 



TO CARPENTERS AND MECHANICS. 

Just Published. 



A NEW AND IMPROVED EDITION OP 

THE CARPENTERS NEW GUIDE, 

A COMPLETE BOOK OF LINES FOR 

CARPENTRY AND JOINERY; 

Treating fully on Practical Geometry, Soffits, Groins, Niches, Roofs, and Domes ; and containing a 
great variety of original Designs. 

ALSO, A FULL EXEMPLIFICATION OF THE 

Theory and Practice of Stair Building, 

Cornices, Mouldings, and Dressings of every description. Including also some observations and 
calculations on the Strength of Timber. 

BY PETER NIC HOLSON, 

Author of "The Carpenter's and Joiner's Assistant," "The Student's Instructor to the Five 

Orders," &c. The whole being carefully and thoroughly revised, 

BY N. K. DAVIS, 

And containing numerous New, Improved, and Original Designs, for Roofs, Domes, <fec, 

BY SAMUEL SLOAN, ARCHITECT, 

Author of "The Model Architect." 

SIXTEENTH EDITION. PRICE, FOUR DOLLARS. 

14 



LIPPINCOTT, GRAM GO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

A DICTIONARY OF SELECT AND POPULAR QUOTATIONS, 

WHICH ARE IN DAILY USE. 

TAKEN FROM THE LATIN, FRENCH, GREEK, SPANISH AND ITALIAN LANGUAGES. 

Together with a copious Collection of Law Maxims and Law Terms, translated into 

English, with Illustrations, Historical and Idiomatic. 

NEW AMERICAN EDITION, CORRECTED, WITH ADDITIONS. 

One volume, 12mo. 

Thte volume comprises a copious collection of legal and other terms which are in common u?«, 
With English translations and historical illustrations; and we should judge its author had surel* 
een to a ereat " Feast of Languages," ani? stole all the scraps. A work of this character should 
have an extensive sale, as it entirely obviates a serious difficulty in which most readers are involved 
by the frequent occurrence of Latin, Greek, and French passages, which we suppose are introduced 
by authors for a mere show of learning— a difficulty very perplexing to readers in general. This 
" Dictionary of Quotations,'' concerning which too much cannot be said in its favour, effectually 
removes the difficulty, and gives the reader an advantage over the author ; for we believe a majority 
are themselves ignorant of the meaning of the terms they employ. Very few truly learned authors 
will insult their readers by introducing Latin or French quotations in their writings, when "plain 
English" will do as well ; but we will not enlarge on this point. 

If the book is useful to those unacquainted with other languages, it is no less valuable to the 
classically educated as a book of reference, and answers all the purposes of a Lexicon — indeed, on 
many accounts, it is better. It saves the trouble of tumbling over the larger volumes, to which 
every one, and especially those engaged in the legal profession, are verv often subjected. It should 
have a place in every library in the country. 

RUSCHENBERGER'S NATURAL HISTORY', 

COMPLETE, WITH NEW GLOSSARY. 



€\t (Bknunta of Natural StBfotq, 

" EMBRACING ZOOLOGY, BOTANY AND GEOLOGY! 

FOR SCHOOLS, COLLEGES AND FAMILIES. 

B^ W. S. W. EUSCHENB1SHG®1,M.D. 

IN TWO VOLUMES. 

WITH NEARLY ONE THOUSAND ILLUSTRATIONS, AND A COPIOUS GLOSSARY. 

Vol. I. contains Vertebrate Animals. Vol. II. contains Mervertebrate Animals, Botany, and Geolog* 

GREAT TRUTHS BY GREAT AUTHORS. 



GEE AT TRUTHS BY GREAT AUTHORS; 

A DICTIONARY 

OF AIDS TO REFLECTION, QUOTATIONS OF MAXIMS, METAPHORS, 
COUNSELS, CAUTIONS, APHORISMS. ETC., 

FROM WRITERS OF ALL AGES AND BOTH HEMISPHERES. 

ONE VOLUME, DEMI- OCTAVO. 

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does of a flower ; she steals sweets from it, but does not injure it."— Cotton. 

STYLES OF BINDING-. 

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15 



LIPPINCOTT, QRAMBO & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 

THE YOUNG DOMINICAN; 
OR, THE MYSTERIES OF THE INQUISITION, 

AND OTHER SECRET SOCIETIES OF SPAIN. 
BY M. V. DE FEREAL. 

WITH HISTORICAL NOTES, BY M, MANUEL DE CUENDIAS 

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
ILLUSTRATED WITH TWENTY SPLENDID ENGRAVINGS BY FRENCH ARTISTS 

One volume, octavo. 

SAY'S POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



A TREATISE ON POLITICAL ECONOMY; 
Or, The Production, Distribution and Consumption of Wealth. 

FIFTH AMERICAN EDITION, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, 
BY C. C. BIDDLE, Esq. 

In one volume, octavo. 

It would be beneficial to our country if all those who are aspiring to office, were required by theii 
constituents to be familiar with the pages of Say. 

The distinguished biographer of the author, in noticing this work, observes : " Happily for science 
he commenced that study which forms the basis of his admirable Treatise on Political Economy ; a 
work which not only improved under his hand with every successive edition, but has been translated 
into roost of the European languages." 

The Editor of the North American Review, speaking of Say, observes, that " he is the moat 
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